Chapter Two, "Questions of Leadership"

[Auld Manriva]

Here's a bit o'conjecture on my part.

 

The Three Will Become One... In this instance, the three are the Two Rivers Destiny Haters Club (no doubt there are other "three's).. Each of the boys must come to grips with who and what he is by the time they reunite for real. That way their "skills" can be used by the Pattern to correct it's deficiencies or "darn it's holes" so to speak. The "Sparklies" can overwhelm the "Darkness" ..

 

Perrin is the one, though he has said to Rand and Mat both, just the opposite, who continues to deny and run from the Pattern. He's being delayed until this is corrected I think is a good call, AND building a well turned out force in addition. Whoever said The Pattern had poor skills at the game of Stones?

 

Morgase intercedes for Perrin... Niiiiiice.

 

Galad's two minuted drill outcome with Asunawa is just the leading edge of a tidal wave of similar outcomes that we'll experience in this book it seems. And I've said for ages, this HAD to happen. Back when people were wailing and gnashing their teeth over "what happened to the two book finale, now there are Three?" and even after KoD I said that there was too much left for just A Memory of Light, even if RJ himself wrote it. Lot's of truncated, seemingly out of character "Get Er Done!" moments are sure to follow... I say, Bring It On.

[Ashaman Kovan]

Any awesomely bored person/s planning on transcribing this?? ;]

 

I can't stand to listen to audio book stuff.

[Kaznen]

I have heared people read their weekly grocery list with more enthusiasm then this guy reads WoT.

[Sentinel78]

Do you think Perrin's group found Asunawa's head by the side of the road? That would put Galad between Gill (with Balwer & Morgase?) and Perrin.

 

I don't see a random head making the Aiel concerned, personally. That being said, Maidens on horses might be a different breed.

 

Didn't Larry say the Egwene/Rand chapter was chapter 3?

 

Yes.

[demondeacon]

I'm currently listening to the audio of tSR and it just kills me how much cooler Perrin was in the early books. He is still my favorite of the three but I too am getting a bit bored of his treading water. When Faile was interrupted by the return of the scouts I grunted in disappointment. Now it seems like dealing with meeting the Whitecloaks is going to distract from whatever it was she was going to say to him and drag it out even longer. And I'm in Prague so I don't get any more material till mid December when I get home.

 

As for the Galad part, I disagree with the notion that it was dealt with too quickly or unceremoniously. As someone mentioned, the Whitecloaks are a relatively unimportant group. Not just militarily in the world but also to the story. I have no where near the interest in them as I did the White Tower so dragging out their division to the same extent as the rift in the Tower would drive me up the wall. This was important in gathering a larger force of Whitecloaks to join with Perrin with Galad as their leader and to do so in a realistically plausible way and it accomplished both those things.

[Auld Manriva]

I have heared people read their weekly grocery list with more enthusiasm then this guy reads WoT.

 

You should Tweet Sanderson, I'm sure he could convince McMillian Audio to hire whoever does Animaniacs to read the last book..

 

 

This is One somber chapter out of what? Nearly a Thousand? Kate Reading and Michael Kramer have brought this story to life dozens if not hundreds of times. Listen to more than 20 short minutes.

[The Watcher and Wanderer]

Ok, just one question: Who is Larry?

[jdbond]

Some guy who reviewed the book.

[martianblues]

I have heared people read their weekly grocery list with more enthusiasm then this guy reads WoT.

 

You should Tweet Sanderson, I'm sure he could convince McMillian Audio to hire whoever does Animaniacs to read the last book..

 

 

This is One somber chapter out of what? Nearly a Thousand? Kate Reading and Michael Kramer have brought this story to life dozens if not hundreds of times. Listen to more than 20 short minutes.

 

I agree. I've listened to all of them, and I think they do a great job, without getting too overly dramatic about it (it's not a stage production after all). There are a lot of emotional parts, this is just one somber chapter, portrayed from Perrin's somber POV, (should he be reading that character all cheerfully?) which I'll admit does get tiresome at times, but I've really enjoyed the audiobooks overall.

[Cyf]

I liked this chapter. Yes, Perrin was whining a bit, but there's hope under there, I think. I also don't think it was too quick a fix to Galad. Yes, Jordan would probably have written about it for a long time, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Galad isn't going to single-handedly save the world, he's a secondary character. Having it jump to the important stuff is, to my mind, a good thing.

 

I too wonder what they found. Perrin had to see it, so it has to be something big or linked to him. Maybe some dead wolves, showing Slayer is in the area?

[bloodyflamingthisandthat]

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1BlDzpVYVvv3zi-EucPwgtIzAjSw1Al-Q6OAl9gXxxsw&pli=

 

I didn't transcribe this but here's the link. Thanks to whoever did it. I got the link from Read and Find Out.

[demondeacon]

I liked this chapter. Yes, Perrin was whining a bit, but there's hope under there, I think. I also don't think it was too quick a fix to Galad. Yes, Jordan would probably have written about it for a long time, but that's not necessarily a good thing. Galad isn't going to single-handedly save the world, he's a secondary character. Having it jump to the important stuff is, to my mind, a good thing.

 

I too wonder what they found. Perrin had to see it, so it has to be something big or linked to him. Maybe some dead wolves, showing Slayer is in the area?

 

I initially assumed it was just the big ass Whitecloak army. However I don't remember how big either group was so maybe that doesn't make sense for a cause of concern (for some reason I have a really hard time paying attention to people talking about how big group A is until it actually matters, like when there's an imminent confrontation).

 

Would seem to set the stage nicely for their impending meeting if that were the case though.

[RelentlessAttack]

Faile is pretty awesome all around in this book. Even my husband, who despised her, revised his opinion to "can't be completely awful" after I told him what happens in this book.

So she kills Perrin, takes his place in the tri-pod and has a steamy affair with Berelain?

 

Awesome!

Yes please, Sanderson, get it done!

[Sentinel78]

“There is something beside the road, Perrin Aybara,” the woman said. She smelled concerned. That was a dangerous sign. “It is something that you will wish to see.”

 

Maybe it's a large pile of dead wolves, i.e., Slayer kicking it up a notch, forcing Perrin to consult with Hopper regarding what's going on. The good thing about dead wolves retiring to TAR is that they can tell you what's been killing them.

[bushleague16]

Do you think Perrin's group found Asunawa's head by the side of the road? That would put Galad between Gill (with Balwer & Morgase?) and Perrin.

 

I don't see a random head making the Aiel concerned, personally. That being said, Maidens on horses might be a different breed.

 

Didn't Larry say the Egwene/Rand chapter was chapter 3?

 

Yes.

 

My guess, and I think it might be a good one, is that it's either Trolloc bodies, or the remains of mangled bodies that trollocs have killed and eaten. This chapter I think takes place right around the time Tylee is attacked or maybe a little bit after, but it would make sense that they're floating around in more than one area. The remains of bodies slaughtered by trollocs would make sense to me because it would confuse the maidens, but Perrin's nose would be able to smell their involvment.

[jdbond]

^^A very good guess.

[ghenjei]

“There is something beside the road, Perrin Aybara,” the woman said. She smelled concerned. That was a dangerous sign. “It is something that you will wish to see.”

 

Maybe it's a large pile of dead wolves, i.e., Slayer kicking it up a notch, forcing Perrin to consult with Hopper regarding what's going on. The good thing about dead wolves retiring to TAR is that they can tell you what's been killing them.

 

 

I think it's most likely either the WC Army itself or a heap of dead Questionnaires left beside the road (though I think it doubtful that Galad would let it be like that, so I'm leaning towards the WC army). Otherwise, my money is that it's some evidence of the pattern unraveling (moved places / weirdness) or the sign of a great slaughter/atrocity.

[Sentinel78]

Bushleague16's guess that it could be Trolloc-related makes sense. The timing fits and Tylee was just attacked in the general vicinity. It's not actual Trollocs obviously, but it could be runes or some other indicator (i.e., cookpots, dead bodies, etc.).

 

Maybe Galad or Perrin comes to the other's aid after they're attacked by Trollocs? It could happen. It'd be nice if they met in dramatic fashion as opposed to their scouts running into each other.

[b3arz3rg3r]

“There is something beside the road, Perrin Aybara,” the woman said. She smelled concerned. That was a dangerous sign. “It is something that you will wish to see.”

 

Maybe it's a large pile of dead wolves, i.e., Slayer kicking it up a notch, forcing Perrin to consult with Hopper regarding what's going on. The good thing about dead wolves retiring to TAR is that they can tell you what's been killing them.

How about a herd of dead mules one of which wrote "tell it the dragon reborn" with its bloody hoof.

I take that back, this one is a lot funnier

 

“There is something beside the road, Perrin Aybara,” the woman said. She smelled concerned. That was a dangerous sign. “It is something that you will wish to see.”

 

Maybe it's a large pile of dead wolves, i.e., Slayer kicking it up a notch, forcing Perrin to consult with Hopper regarding what's going on. The good thing about dead wolves retiring to TAR is that they can tell you what's been killing them.

 

 

I think it's most likely either the WC Army itself or a heap of dead Questionnaires left beside the road (though I think it doubtful that Galad would let it be like that, so I'm leaning towards the WC army). Otherwise, my money is that it's some evidence of the pattern unraveling (moved places / weirdness) or the sign of a great slaughter/atrocity.

[Frostmuse]

I was actually re-reading The Dragon Reborn when a friend told me the audio chapter was available, so I went straight from a TDR-Perrin scene to a ToM-Perrin scene. Gotta say he's still being himself, just a different kind of himself, it didn't feel like a jarring switch. Faile's just been tangling the threads in his head (with his permission as often as not) for quite a while.

 

Audio books are a bit different kettle than some people expect because of they way they're spoken - it's actually a pretty well thought-out way to make sure the listener catches everything the same way they would when reading. If the readers were speaking normally, our brains would simply start skipping words and start piecing stuff together by prediction. So, strange reading, but after a while it melts into the background as our ear-to-brain processes get used to it.

 

But aside from that, does anyone have a link to a (good) map showing where they've been and where they're going?

[Sentinel78]

Anybody catch this (from transcription)?

 

Perrin POV:

 

Thunder rumbled above, soft and menacing like the growl of a distant beast. Perrin turned his eyes toward the sky. A few days ago, the pervasive cloud cover had turned black, darkening like the advent of a horrible storm, but rain had come only in spurts.

 

Galad POV:

 

This was a heavy sleeping tent constructed to be dark during the daylight hours. The lights above weren’t stars at all, but sunlight through the occasional pinholes of wear in the canvas. He was still naked, and with tentative fingers he determined that there was dried blood on his face. It had come from a long gash in his forehead. If he didn’t wash it soon, infection was likely.

 

Is this another timeline discrepancy? Galad's sky has sunlight but Perrin's is pitch-black (probably triggered by Rand's TP-channeling).

 

I figured Galad and Perrin would at least be aligned...

[jdbond]

Their story line has a gap of 10 hrs!

[demondeacon]

I was actually re-reading The Dragon Reborn when a friend told me the audio chapter was available, so I went straight from a TDR-Perrin scene to a ToM-Perrin scene. Gotta say he's still being himself, just a different kind of himself, it didn't feel like a jarring switch. Faile's just been tangling the threads in his head (with his permission as often as not) for quite a while.

 

Audio books are a bit different kettle than some people expect because of they way they're spoken - it's actually a pretty well thought-out way to make sure the listener catches everything the same way they would when reading. If the readers were speaking normally, our brains would simply start skipping words and start piecing stuff together by prediction. So, strange reading, but after a while it melts into the background as our ear-to-brain processes get used to it.

 

But aside from that, does anyone have a link to a (good) map showing where they've been and where they're going?

 

See, I disagree. As I mentioned I'm currently listening to tSR and like his general personality is the same which is why I still like him but in those other ones he figures out what he needs to do and does it and now he's been doing nothing plot-wise for a while. His plots were my favorite in those early books and that is no longer the case.

[b3arz3rg3r]

I was actually re-reading The Dragon Reborn when a friend told me the audio chapter was available, so I went straight from a TDR-Perrin scene to a ToM-Perrin scene. Gotta say he's still being himself, just a different kind of himself, it didn't feel like a jarring switch. Faile's just been tangling the threads in his head (with his permission as often as not) for quite a while.

 

Audio books are a bit different kettle than some people expect because of they way they're spoken - it's actually a pretty well thought-out way to make sure the listener catches everything the same way they would when reading. If the readers were speaking normally, our brains would simply start skipping words and start piecing stuff together by prediction. So, strange reading, but after a while it melts into the background as our ear-to-brain processes get used to it.

 

But aside from that, does anyone have a link to a (good) map showing where they've been and where they're going?

I only know of one map following the character movements and that one isn't up to date. http://www.tobysplace.me.uk/wheeloftimemaps.html

[Tenesmus]

If RJ wrote this, we would have had an Asunawa or Byar POV of the execution. Didn't we get a Niall POV when he was killed? This may have been Leigh's Number 12 in her spoiler free review. Agree that there will be a lot of these loose ends tied up quickly. As long as they are written well, like this Galad POV, no foul. As an example, did we really need to see the bubble of evil, snakes apparently, attack Perrin's camp? Not really, it would have added another 15 pages to the book, with no real benefit.

 

What is up ahead on the road? My guess is Trollocs. If the maidens riding was intentional to show the need to get the info to Perrin. If that was a mistake, then it is likley the White Cloak Camp being taken down. Or... White Cloaks battling Trollocs. Doubt Galad would have left bodies unburied or unburned by the roadside.

 

Another longshot is something to do with Verin. She is still alive at this point. Not sure if the timeline is correct for her to have alreay met Mat though. I still think we will see some of Verin in this book, well... I hope we do anyway

 

Overall, a well written chapter.