Thom's knives

[FarShainMael]

I mean that Thom has sharp eyes and that in order for something to catch them it need not be nearby.

In fact, that line suggests to me that the inn is likely to be on the opposite side of the square from the bridge.

 

They didn't cross the bridge to enter the square. They walked along a number of streets until they reached the square. They could have entered the square near the foot of the bridge, but we don't know from what direction.

 

Recall that they need somewhere they can wait and watch for Moiraine and the others to catch up with them:

 

Thom suddenly shook himself and stopped dead. “An innkeeper will be able to tell us if they’re here, or if they’ve passed through. The right innkeeper. Innkeepers have all the news and gossip. If they aren’t here . . . ” He looked back and forth from Rand to Mat. “We have to talk, we three.” Cloak swirling around his ankles, he set off into the town, away from the river. Rand and Mat had to step quickly to keep up.

 

They need to stay close to the foot of the bridge in case the others do cross it; so I suggest Thom is looking for an inn nearby. His eyesight has nothing to do with it.

[Din]

They didn't cross the bridge to enter the square. They walked along a number of streets until they reached the square. They could have entered the square near the foot of the bridge, but we don't know from what direction.

My goodness, how could I make two mistakes in a row like that? I do apologise.

 

Thom suddenly shook himself and stopped dead. “An innkeeper will be able to tell us if they’re here, or if they’ve passed through. The right innkeeper. Innkeepers have all the news and gossip. If they aren’t here . . . ” He looked back and forth from Rand to Mat. “We have to talk, we three.” Cloak swirling around his ankles, he set off into the town, away from the river. Rand and Mat had to step quickly to keep up.

 

They need to stay close to the foot of the bridge in case the others do cross it; so I suggest Thom is looking for an inn nearby. His eyesight has nothing to do with it.

Does Thom state a desire to stay near the foot of the bridge? I don't recall it if he did. The quote you posted suggests that they went some distance from the bridge before finding the inn.

 

Either way, other parts of the chapter make it clear that the action didn't take place at the bridge itself.

[Eht Slat Meit]

Something to keep in mind is that we've precious little description of exactly how the Whitebridge is integrated into the town itself; we get a basic description of its structure, and we have a pretty good notion that it is a large arching structure comes down somewhere in the center of the square, as the square itself is surrounded by buildings in the center of the town. When I call it large, that's not an exaggeration, as the TEoTW refers to it as dwarfing the town:

All in all it dwarfed the town that sprawled about its foot on the east bank, though Whitebridge was larger by far than Emond’s Field, with houses of stone and brick as tall as those in Taren Ferry and wooden docks like thin fingers sticking out into the river.

 

Such a huge structure could easily encompass a great deal of the square, but since we don't know how it integrates, that's pure conjecture. We do know some other basics however - for starters, that this isn't some outlandish bridge design, but one that incorporates a fantastic material into a perfectly normal bridge design, to spectacular effect. By description (and note, I'm not an expert, simply google searching) this appears to be some sort of truss bridge supported by piers (as written, in terms of a pillar). However, there is another standard feature of a bridge that acts as a support, and I believe is referred to as a... deck or pier?

 

That is the point at which the bridge intersects with the pieces of lands that it is meant to join. If you look at a picture of one of these bridges, it appears to be like a platform, and gives obvious support in anchoring the bridge to the bank, or whichever place if comes down in.

 

For all we know, some element of that huge bridge could have been in reach of the Myrdraal... as part of the ground it walked on, or some other feature that extends beyond the mere "foot" of the bridge.

 

All speculation of course, but entirely plausible.

[FarShainMael]

They didn't cross the bridge to enter the square. They walked along a number of streets until they reached the square. They could have entered the square near the foot of the bridge, but we don't know from what direction.

My goodness, how could I make two mistakes in a row like that? I do apologise.

 

Thom suddenly shook himself and stopped dead. “An innkeeper will be able to tell us if they’re here, or if they’ve passed through. The right innkeeper. Innkeepers have all the news and gossip. If they aren’t here . . . ” He looked back and forth from Rand to Mat. “We have to talk, we three.” Cloak swirling around his ankles, he set off into the town, away from the river. Rand and Mat had to step quickly to keep up.

 

They need to stay close to the foot of the bridge in case the others do cross it; so I suggest Thom is looking for an inn nearby. His eyesight has nothing to do with it.

Does Thom state a desire to stay near the foot of the bridge? I don't recall it if he did. The quote you posted suggests that they went some distance from the bridge before finding the inn.

 

Either way, other parts of the chapter make it clear that the action didn't take place at the bridge itself.

 

He didn't state any such desire explicitly, no, but it's a reasonable thing to do if you're awaiting travellers, as I said.

 

For the rest, it's all a matter of interpretation, so I think we must agree to differ.

 

I just saw the bit you italicised..

 

They have just got off Domon's ship, and are heading into town:

 

Thom still hesitated, but Rand hustled him down the gangplank without giving him a chance to argue, and the gleeman let himself be herded. A murmur passed through the people on the dock as they saw Thom’s patch-covered cloak, and some called out to discover where he would be performing. So much for not being noticed, Rand thought, dismayed. By sundown it would be all over Whitebridge that there was a gleeman in town. He hurried Thom along, though, and Thom, wrapped in sulky silence, did not even try to slow down enough to preen under the attention.

 

The carriage drivers looked down at Thom with interest from their high perches, but apparently the dignity of their positions forbade shouting. With no idea of where to go exactly, Rand turned up the street that ran along the river and under the bridge.

 

“We need to find Moiraine and the others,” he said. “And fast. We should have thought of changing Thom’s cloak.”

 

Thom suddenly shook himself and stopped dead. “An innkeeper will be able to tell us if they’re here, or if they’ve passed through. The right innkeeper. Innkeepers have all the news and gossip. If they aren’t here . . . ” He looked back and forth from Rand to Mat. “We have to talk, we three.” Cloak swirling around his ankles, he set off into the town, away from the river. Rand and Mat had to step quickly to keep up.

 

The broad, milk-white arch that gave the town its name dominated Whitebridge as much close up as it did from afar, but once Rand was in the streets he realized that the town was every bit as big as Baerlon, though not so crowded with people. A few carts moved in the streets, pulled by horse or ox or donkey or man, but no carriages. Those most likely all belonged to the merchants and were clustered down at the dock.

 

Shops of every description lined the streets, and many of the tradesmen worked in front of their establishments, under the signs swinging in the wind. They passed a man mending pots, and a tailor holding folds of cloth up to the light for a customer. A shoemaker, sitting in his doorway, tapped his hammer on the heel of a boot. Hawkers cried their services at sharpening knives and scissors, or tried to interest the passersby in their skimpy trays of fruit or vegetables, but none was getting much interest. Shops selling food had the same pitiful displays of produce Rand remembered from Baerlon. Even the fishmongers displayed only small piles of small fish, for all the boats on the river. Times were not really hard yet, but everyone could see what was coming if the weather did not change soon, and those faces that were not fixed into worried frowns seemed to stare at something unseen, something unpleasant.

 

Where the White Bridge came down in the center of the town was a big square, paved with stones worn by generations of feet and wagon wheels. Inns surrounded the square, and shops, and tall, red brick houses with signs out front bearing the same names Rand had seen on the carriages at the dock. It was into one of those inns, seemingly chosen at random, that Thom ducked. The sign over the door, swinging in the wind, had a striding man with a bundle on his back on one side and the same man with his head on a pillow on the other, and proclaimed The Wayfarers’ Rest.

 

Two points:

 

I'm now having to repeat myself.

 

You are not reading the quoted passages. I don't think you're even reading the book.

 

I shall therefore leave this discussion, and allow the other forum members to make up their own minds about the matter.

[Din]

What a strange fellow.

It's interesting to note though, that the line 'inns surrounded the square' seems to imply that the bridge isn't on the edge of the square which may account for my impression of it being in the centre.

[Eht Slat Meit]

What a strange fellow.

It's interesting to note though, that the line 'inns surrounded the square' seems to imply that the bridge isn't on the edge of the square which may account for my impression of it being in the centre.

 

While I disagree with your conclusion that Whitebridge necessarily touches down in some small central portion to the square, this is what I understand as well. WB is an arching structure, and I imagine it to be similar in some ways to catwalks that you see over large city roads. For houses and buildings to have sprung up beneath it, there must be some level of clearance, and if the description of the party's travel from the ship to the square are any indication, it's so big that it doesn't even come down on the riverbank.

 

As stated, this structure is -huge- to the point of giving the appearance of dwarfing the town in a river perspective.

 

That tells me that the Bridge could very well be big enough to take up a large portion of the square, whether it be in the arches and supports (think pier-pillars, they don't just go in the water), the deck of the Bridge, or some other element that we are given no description of.

 

To put it in more practical terms, iirc in FFXII, there's a large city square at the entrance of Dalmasca, and the center of it is dominated by a fountain. I see the Bridge being at -least- as big as that fountain.

[Din]

While I disagree with your conclusion that Whitebridge necessarily touches down in some small central portion to the square, this is what I understand as well.

Allow me to point out that I don't hold that view as a 'necessary conclusion' since it was pointed out that the book doesn't actually state it in so many words (I had misread that line). The rest of your post is well-taken though.