Rand's Heron Mark Blade in tEotW

[jwood01]

I am currently re-reading tEotW for the 3rd or 4th time, and what stood out to me this time is why didn't Lan instruct Rand to cover up the heron mark on Tam's sword (e.g., in Baelorn(sp?)) or at least be weary about wearing it around?

 

The only explanations that come to mind for me are:

- Lan thought the Heron mark would discourage trouble makers from starting fights with Rand?

- Lan had a lot on his mind right then considering they were being hunted by shadowspawn, and he was contemplating a route through Shadar Logoth, so he just plain forgot

 

To me the first explanation seems most credible, but even if this is the case, why not at least warn Rand about the dangers of carrying a blade with a heron on it. i am surprised Thom never warned him either. Most blademasters throughout the series that we have seen look dangerous, whereas Rand at this point in the story looks like a young country bumpkin.

 

On the other hand, it probably helped him and Matt out in Four Kings. Neither the inn keeper and his goons, or the rich darkfriend dared risk the chance that Rand actually was a blademaster, so they delayed their attacks until later in the night.

 

Thoughts?

[Ingtar Shinowa]

I am currently re-reading tEotW for the 3rd or 4th time, and what stood out to me this time is why didn't Lan instruct Rand to cover up the heron mark on Tam's sword (e.g., in Baelorn(sp?)) or at least be weary about wearing it around?

 

The only explanations that come to mind for me are:

- Lan thought the Heron mark would discourage trouble makers from starting fights with Rand?

- Lan had a lot on his mind right then considering they were being hunted by shadowspawn, and he was contemplating a route through Shadar Logoth, so he just plain forgot

 

To me the first explanation seems most credible, but even if this is the case, why not at least warn Rand about the dangers of carrying a blade with a heron on it. i am surprised Thom never warned him either. Most blademasters throughout the series that we have seen look dangerous, whereas Rand at this point in the story looks like a young country bumpkin.

 

On the other hand, it probably helped him and Matt out in Four Kings. Neither the inn keeper and his goons, or the rich darkfriend dared risk the chance that Rand actually was a blademaster, so they delayed their attacks until later in the night.

 

Thoughts?

 

It bothered me no end as well, but I don't have a clue why he didn't cover them up after the first time they drew attention to him.

[Durinax]

I tihnk they where using the 'im much stronger than you so dont try anything' technique

[Kahsm]

Well you see, using the same logic people apply to Rand's channeling and apparently his ability to stop hearts by will alone, we know the Heron is a sign of a blademaster. Since Rand was given the sword, he MUST therefore have been a blademaster from the very start. He is the Champion of the Light after all, so you can't refute it.

</sarcasm>

 

In a serious note, I think it's very much option 1. Even though Rand's young, Gareth can tell the sword is Rand's by the way he wears it. So it grew on him pretty quick. Maybe it always fit him and Lan saw that too. Anyone really skilled would question Rand's age but not whether or not the sword was his, and they might think twice about testing his right to wear the heron. Those that didn't read a fighter that well and assumed Rand stole it would be less dangerous people, for the most part.

 

Only in Caemlyn where he didn't want to be pointed out did it cause too much trouble. But hiding an Aiel-looking man in Caemlyn is probably impossible anyway.

[buckeyebull64]

In a somewhat related question, what significance does the sword he wears now (last two books) have? Did I miss this somewhere? It's power-forged, but has no herons, right? Somewhere I believe it said he recognised it immediately, and from Rand's lifetime rather than LTT's, and he took to wearing it right away. and if so, what then happened to Avi/Laman's sword?

[Manscher]

He recognizes it from Falme, when the Artur Hawking carried it(Justice) into battle. As for Laman's sword, I find it a bit odd that he suddenly gets a new sword and he decides to use that instead of the one given to him by Aviendha. It seems like he values that sword quite high exactly because it was given to him by Aviendha, so why scratch it for another one?

[buckeyebull64]

Does anyone remember exactly where he got it? and it does seem kind of ironic that when he was a country bumpkin, he wore the herons, but now that he might be considered a legit blademaster, he doesn't have the herons.

 

Another strange though ocured to me about Laman's sword: does anybody remember him actually using it against another person? He used a warder's sword while captive, and uses his bare hands in Far Madding, right? Maybe against Fain only?

[FarShainMael]

The heron-mark sword was Tam's. He gave it to Rand during the Trolloc attack on their farm (EotW5). Later (in TGS47) we learn that Tam got it when he killed a man 'who needed killing' so he supposes that makes him a blademaster.

 

Also, although Rand may have been a 'country bumpkin' early on, when Elaida discovers the heron marks under the wrappings (EotW40), Gareth Bryne comments that it is clear the sword belongs with Rand from the way he stands and his general bearing. The potential is clearly there.

[Superhal]

Definitely the sword caused more problems for Rand in books 1-3 than they solved, and in book 4, the Aiel especially had a hard time accepting him because of it.

 

But the main point of the sword, imho, was that it was a link to Tam. Everybody was telling him how he looked Aiel, how the DR was supposed to be born of the Aiel and on Dragonmount, etc. Holding the sword was like holding on to the past, the simple life, and childhood innocence.

 

In the early books, it was more of a metaphor, not a weapon, just like the Dragon scepter.

[yoniy0]

I agree.

 

We do have this little exchange to explain what Lan saw in it:

Scowling, Rand ignored the Warder's words. It was no one's business but his own. "I want to learn how to use this. I need to." It had caused him problems, carrying a heron-marked sword. Not everybody knew what it meant, or even noticed it, but even so a heron-mark blade, especially in the hands of a youth barely old enough to be called a man, still attracted the wrong sort of attention. "I've been able to bluff sometimes, when I could not run, and I've been lucky, besides. But what happens when I can't run, and I can't bluff, and my luck runs out?"

"You could sell it," Lan said carefully. "That blade is rare even among heron-mark swords. It would fetch a pretty price."

"No!" It was an idea he had thought of more than once, but he rejected it now for the same reason he always had, and more fiercely for coming from someone else. As long as I keep it, I have the right to call Tam father. He gave it to me, and it gives me the right.

[...]

"Do you really want to get away, sheepherder? I'll ask again. Why are you not gone, then? The sword? In five years I could make you worthy of it, make you a blademaster. You have quick wrists, good balance, and you don't make the same mistake twice. But I do not have five years to give over to teaching you, and you do not have five years for learning. You have not even one year, and you know it. As it is, you will not stab yourself in the foot. You hold yourself as if the sword belongs at your waist, sheepherder, and most village bullies will sense it. But you've had that much almost since the day you put it on. So why are you still here?"

Still doesn't explain why Rand didn't cover it if he thought it was nothing but trouble, but there you have it.

[jwood01]

...Even though Rand's young, Gareth can tell the sword is Rand's by the way he wears it. So it grew on him pretty quick. Maybe it always fit him and Lan saw that too.

 

 

This is a very good point, and I got to the audience with Morgase and Gareth Bryne over the weekend. I seem to recall that Gareth is a blademaster (am I correct in that?), so he would be a pretty good judge.

[Smittyphi]

Bryne is a blademaster so he would be an excellent judge. Having a real blademaster in Baerlon with the illusion of a second would drive the smart ones away and Lan could easily dispatch tohose in qusetion.