Eye of the World Error

[Jackoshadows]

So i'm rereading Eye of the World to get me in the WoT mood for the new book, and I just noticed an error. It may just be my copy, but i noticed a direct repeat. On pg 382, a farmer gives Rand and Matt a pair of scarfs, explaining they belonged to his sons, that "they have others. You don't know me, understand? It's hard times." This exact same paragraph, verbatim, is repeated on pg 416. Can anyone check their book? I want to know if it's just in my copy.

Thanks.

Edited October 16, 2010 by Jack o' shadows

[Jackoshadows]

So i'm rereading Eye of the World to get me in the WoT mood for the new book, and I just noticed an error. It may just be my copy, but i noticed a direct repeat. On pg 382, a farmer gives Rand and Matt a pair of scarfs, explaining they belonged to his sons, that "they have others. You don't know me, understand? It's hard times." This exact same paragraph, verbatim, is repeated on pg 416. Can anyone check their book? I want to know if it's just in my copy.

Thanks.

Just checked, and the entire paragraph isn't verbatim, but the last part is.

[Val Mickey]

I think the part between is a flash back.

[Jackoshadows]

i think you may be right. master kinch, a wagon driver, just appeared for the second time. then it mentioned that rand thought his sense of time might be skewed. i guess it's a side affect of saidin.

[didymos]

I think the part between is a flash back.

 

Yeah, it is. It's pretty damn confusing (deliberately so, I think, given what Rand and Mat have been dealing with on the road and alone), but the sequence is:

 

1. In the present, Rand wraps a scarf around him tighter to avoid the dust, thinks briefly about the guy who gave it to him.

 

2. He and Mat hide in some hedges when they see people coming along the road, afraid they might be looking for them.

 

3. As they crawl out afterwards, Rand starts thinking about their journey after Whitebridge and losing Thom. Now we're in flashback mode.

 

4. We get the whole sequence with the two of them playing and juggling at various places like the Grinwell's farm for food and lodging, DF encounters, Ba'alzamon dreams etc., ending with the escape from Howal Gode by way of highly convenient lightning strike.

 

5. In the next chapter, we're still in flashback mode, but we've jumped ahead some to Rand and Mat getting a ride from Hyam Kinch.

 

6. After some conversation about Mat's eyes still bugging him from the lightning and Mat wondering if Rand is feeling better, and a bit of talk with Hyam Kinch, he drops them off before heading to his farm. Rand and Mat continue on.

 

8. Here's where it gets tricky: as they do so, we now get a flashback within a flashback as Rand starts thinking about what happened right after they escaped from Gode.

 

9. Rand and a blinded Mat have freaky Ba'alzamon dreams as they sleep under some bushes they found after running away, guest-starring a lightning-fried Howal Gode.

 

10. They make their way to another village afterwards, and pass through. Shortly thereafter, a farmer named Alpert Mull offers them a ride. He's the guy who gave them the scarves, when he dropped them off before heading to his farm, hence the repeat of that scene.

 

11. They make it to Market Sheran, and run into Paitr Conel, Worst Darkfriend Ever, who Rand eventually punches for being a total jackass. They get the hell out of there, get a bunch of rides in addition to a bunch of gossip, and eventually end up at another inn, whereupon they make a deal to play for food and board.

 

12. Rand then gets the channeling sickness as a result of the Gode incident, and Mat intimidates the innkeeper into giving them board anyway, which turns out to be the stable. Rand gets all delirious and stuff. Later, a pretty DF lady with a freaky, burning dagger tries to kill them. More running ensues.

 

13. Outside the village, they meet a guy named Hyam Kinch and he offers them a ride. Thus ends the "inner" flashback, but not the "outer" flashback.

 

14. Now, we've suddenly jumped ahead, and Rand and Mat have made it to the next village, Carysford.

 

Now, here's the really annoying part: the whole scene where they hide under the hedges and we hear about the scarves for the first time, which kicked off this whole nested flashback mess? Yeah, RJ decided that, unlike the scarves, it didn't bear repeating. He just skipped right past it and dropped us right back into Rand's present, and a bit further ahead of where we last saw him to boot. Which means that the "outer" flashback actually ended offscreen: it happened somewhere between Kinch dropping them off and Carysford, shortly after the "inner" flashback ended. Go figure.

Edited October 16, 2010 by didymos

[Luckers]

It's not an error. Jordan has spoken about this, he was trying out a flashback technique and it just really did not work out.

[Rinnsal]

I'd never figured it out on my own, I didn't even realize that it was the same farmer... Thanks for bringing the question up (it confused me a bit at my recent reread as well).

[didymos]

Just for the hell of it...

 

If you put it in "in-universe" chronological order instead of the order-as-written, it's a little easier to see what was going on:

 

1. Rand and Mat flee Whitebridge, play some tunes and juggle to survive, meet Else Grinwell and her family, and eventually run into Howal Gode at an inn in the village of Four Kings. He corners them that night and Rand unwittingly kills him with lightning that also blows the wall away.

 

2. Even though Mat's blinded, they run off into the night, sleep under some bushes, and have a Ba'alzamon dream.

 

3. They wake up, pass through some random village, and run into Alpert Mull just after that. He gives them a ride. He later drops them off near his farm, tells them he's too uneasy to let them stay there, but gives them some scarves because he feels kinda bad about that.

 

4. Rand and Mat move on, making it to Market Sheran, where they run into Paitr. They bail after that, get a few more rides, and eventually end up in yet another unnamed village. Rand gives the whole "Play For Your Supper" pitch at a local inn, and the innkeeper accepts.

 

5. Before they can get to the "Play" part, Rand gets sparker's sickness a result of the lightning thing, and they both end up in the stable thanks to Mat's quick thinking. Later, a female DF tries to kill them.

 

6. They deal with her and run away, and just outside the village, meet Hyam Kinch, who gives them a ride.

 

7. During that ride, Rand thinks back on what happened after the run-in with Howal Gode, including Alpert giving them the scarves. In the book, this is the flashback-within-a-flashback.

 

8. Kinch prepares to leave the Caemlyn Road for his farm, and offers them a place to stay for the night. Rand and Mat end up staying on the road, and so they part ways with Hyam.

 

9. Shortly thereafter, they notice a bunch of people headed their way and fast. Rand briefly recalls how Alpert Mull gave them the scarves. In the book this is where the whole sequence starts (and the scarves moment here is actually a very brief flashback itself, which makes for three in total).

 

10. They both decide to hide in a hedge on the side of the road, just in case these people are looking for them.

 

11. After the group passes and they're back on the road, Rand starts thinking back on everything that's happened so far, going all the way back to Whitebridge and including his earlier recollection of the events between fleeing Four Kings and meeting Hyam Kinch. In the book this is the main, "outer" flashback.

 

12. Some time later, after Rand has replayed it all in his mind, the two of them enter the village of Carysford. Rand feels rather confused by all this craziness, and so do we.

Edited October 16, 2010 by didymos

[Jackoshadows]

Wow guys, you really know the WoT :) I bow to a skill far greater than my own. (flourish) I appreciate you guys clearing that up for me. If I have any more questions, I definitely know where to turn.

[HollyBadger]

as many times as I’ve read this book  I have always hated this bit. An unfortunate misadventure for RJ. 

[DaddyFinn]

I have never noticed it's a flashback ?