Ok, 17 years later, please help my slow self FINALLY get the punchline of this WOT Joke!

[The Fisher King]

I've actually been embarrassed for the longest time to ask anyone about this and admit that I missed something that seemed to be 'intuitively obvious.'

 

I guess today I'm just feeling brave, lol.

 

In Chapter 51 of FOH (''News Comes to Cairhien'') Mat, Moiraine, Rand and others are gathered in The Dragon's tent.

 

Moiraine Sedai looks at Mat and says, ''You are very brave, Mat, it seems.'' And the silence that followed stiffened his face.

 

Huh??? Why such a silence? Why did his face stiffen? What was Moiraine implying? As an insult? Backhanded compliment? Is Mat offended? If so, WHY?

 

This book came out around 94/95 and I've felt ever since that I definitely missed something here.

 

 

- Fish

[Finnssss22]

She knew he was trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

 

He kept trying to sneak away, saying he was going to "scout" and every time he did, "Talmanes and Nalesean would surely follow with as many men as they could put in a saddle."

[The Fisher King]

She knew he was trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhh! ... NO WAY!!! ... Is that what the byplay was there underneath the surface??? ... I NEVER interpreted it like that! Are you 100% sure? I never picked up on that, lol!!! ... So she knew Mat was running for the hills and only accidentally stumbled into his position with the Band and the Battle of Cairhein???

 

Of course, fits with his personality perfectly. Always running from the tough times, somehow being unwillingly thrust into situations where he must be Bada$$ and have others follow him - all the while never understanding that he is a born leader (literally).

 

 

That qualifies as WoW. If true, makes me wonder if Rand, Lan and the others there had also figured that out?

 

Thanks tons for the insight.

 

Ask a question - get an answerr! Ain't the intranet spiffy?

 

 

- Fish

[Finnssss22]

She knew he was trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhh! ... NO WAY!!! ... Is that what the byplay was there underneath the surface??? ... I NEVER interpreted it like that! Are you 100% sure? I never picked up on that, lol!!! ... So she knew Mat was running for the hills and only accidentally stumbled into his position with the Band and the Battle of Cairhein???

 

Of course, fits with his personality perfectly. Always running from the tough times, somehow being unwillingly thrust into situations where he must be Bada$$ and have others follow him - all the while never understanding that he is a born leader (literally).

 

 

That qualifies as WoW. If true, makes me wonder if Rand, Lan and the others there had also figured that out?

 

Thanks tons for the insight.

 

Ask a question - get an answerr! Ain't the intranet spiffy?

 

 

- Fish

 

 

Heh, yeah if you read Mat's PoV at the end of that chapter, he is fuming and frustrated. The Band won't let him go out alone and no matter how hard he tries to avoid battles, he ends up in one, winning no matter the numbers and has no choice but to return to Cairhien every time with yet another flaming victory for the bloody Band of the Red Hand.

 

Mo knows he trying to run away, sees the pattern pulling him back and is amused that Mat keeps fighting it.

[The Fisher King]

She knew he was trying to get the hell out of Dodge.

 

Ohhhhhhhhhh! ... NO WAY!!! ... Is that what the byplay was there underneath the surface??? ... I NEVER interpreted it like that! Are you 100% sure? I never picked up on that, lol!!! ... So she knew Mat was running for the hills and only accidentally stumbled into his position with the Band and the Battle of Cairhein???

 

Of course, fits with his personality perfectly. Always running from the tough times, somehow being unwillingly thrust into situations where he must be Bada$$ and have others follow him - all the while never understanding that he is a born leader (literally).

 

 

That qualifies as WoW. If true, makes me wonder if Rand, Lan and the others there had also figured that out?

 

Thanks tons for the insight.

 

Ask a question - get an answerr! Ain't the intranet spiffy?

 

 

- Fish

 

 

Heh, yeah if you read Mat's PoV at the end of that chapter, he is fuming and frustrated. The Band won't let him go out alone and no matter how hard he tries to avoid battles, he ends up in one, winning no matter the numbers and has no choice but to return to Cairhien every time with yet another flaming victory for the bloody Band of the Red Hand.

 

Mo knows he trying to run away, sees the pattern pulling him back and is amused that Mat keeps fighting it.

 

 

Ok. That makes alot of sense and puts that whole chapter in a whole new (and even funnier) light, lol.

 

 

- Fish

[Finnssss22]

 

Ok. That makes alot of sense and puts that whole chapter in a whole new (and even funnier) light, lol.

 

 

- Fish

 

I always felt it was one of the more important chapters in Mat's development.

Having to kill Melindhra and the ramifications of where her orders came from was a major turning point (slap in the face as it were) for him in really starting to accept his role and responsibilities.

[Hyronimus]

yep, all three of the boys had a time when they realised they had followers, mat around here, perrin in the two rivers (and again and again and again )and rand way back in TDR.

[Byzantine279]

Yea, Mat got around to accepting it faster than Perrin, and didn't have quite the insane reaction to it Rand did, but he really was just trying to run away, they assumed he was trying to lead them. Moiraine of course knew that Mat was trying to run and was basically telling him "you do realize that's never going to work no matter how many times you try it, right?"

 

As for the others: I don't think Rand ever really bothered to think about it, he just accepted the burden and went cold because of it, I think he just assumed Mat accepted it as well. As for the others, Lan probably did simply because he would know Mat well enoguh to know Mat was trying (and failing) to make his getaway.

 

The funniest part is though that Mat walked into it, Rand stopped pulling him, but only because he needed to be where he would find himself with no choice but to save a Cairheinin force or leave them to die, and Mat is honorable in his own way, he wasn't going to let them be slaughtered. But the instant he went to lead that army he sealed his fate.