Hello, and welcome to part four of our reread of The Eye of the World! My name is Matthew, and I am a writer, artist, and game developer from Arizona.

This post will cover The Eye of the World, Chapters 4 - 6. If you haven’t been following this since the beginning, you can catch up on the Introduction and Prologue in my first post, here.

We are going to be changing things up a little in this one... in making the posts a little more concise, I hope to be able to cover more ground each week.

CHAPTER FOUR :: “THE GLEEMAN”

WHAT HAPPENS

This chapter is one of loads and loads of exposition. Dozens of names are dropped, from story titles to factions to individuals. Some of these things like Ogiers, Aiel, and Warders become apparent with time, while most of the names on the list are just background knowledge. This is all in the form of stories and flourishes from the newest character, Thom Merrilin.

Later, Moiraine and Lan meet and talk briefly with Thom, and she addresses him as "Master Bard," assuming that she may have met him before. He doesn't seem to know her, albeit he is still very distrustful of her.

The boys talk about war and what would happen if the Two Rivers got involved, something that Tam almost scoffs at, saying that it is nearly inaccessible. Nonetheless, the Village Council is entertaining the idea of sending men to Deven Ride, Watch Hill, and Taren Ferry on watch duty. Tam points out that even if the Aes Sedai were traveling from Tar Valon to get to Ghealdan and pick up the False Dragon, they wouldn't detour the long way through the Two Rivers.

Finally, we find out that two other boys in Emond's Field have also seen the black rider.

COMMENTS

As stated before on several other sites is the interesting fact that a lot of Thom's stories in this chapter mirror things in real life. Some examples are Materese the Healer (Mother Teresa) and Elbet Queen of All (Queen Elizabeth). Whether this is just a speculation or truly intended, I'm not certain.

CHAPTER FIVE :: “WINTERNIGHT”

WHAT HAPPENS

Rand and his father return to their farm that evening and finish up their chores, finally coming to enjoy supper together. Tam decides to show Rand a curved blade heron-marked sword he had upstairs in a chest. Their time together is interrupted by Trollocs, monstrous humanoids each with a strange assortment of animal features, as they break through the front door.

Tam tells Rand to run, but Rand hesitates. After he does escape, he later reunites with Tam out in the forest to find him feverish. Rand takes his father's sword and heads back into the house for supplies, accidentally killing a Trolloc named Narg who points out that a Myrddraal wants to talk to Rand. Rand searches the house and barn but finds little of use, instead choosing to craft a makeshift travois to carry Tam into the town. He does so by cutting their cart into pieces with his sword, noting that it is still razor sharp after.

COMMENTS

Winternight is one of my favorite chapters in the book. It's when events turn and Rand realizes that things aren't as they once seemed. Everything out there that they've heard in stories leaks through and touches him.

CHAPTER SIX :: “THE WESTWOOD”

WHAT HAPPENS

At this point, Tam is just rambling in his fever dream, mostly about Rand’s mother, Kari, who died fifteen years ago. He talks about the Aiel War, Laman’s Sin, Marath, and the city of Cairhein on fire, but most of these don’t mean much to us right now. A little later he talks about Avendoraldera, a sapling from the tree of life Avendesora. He also raves about how happy Kari will be that he found a son, Rand, on Dragonmount.

Rand travels toward Emond’s Field with Tam in the travois, and successfully evades a Myrddraal and Trollocs on the way.

THE BREAKDOWN :: Chapters Four, Five, and Six

Fever Dreams

Why is Tam suffering a horrible fever? Some shadowspawn weapons are tainted when they are created, causing even the thinnest cut to eventually destroy the life of the injured. His fever is a precursor to that. 

Until next week....

:: Lanestrider

Hello, and welcome to part three of our reread of [/size]The Eye of the World! My name is Matthew, and I am a writer, artist, and game developer from Arizona.[/size]

This post will cover The Eye of the World, Chapter 3. If you haven’t been following this since the beginning, you can catch up on the Introduction and Prologue in my first post, here.

CHAPTER THREE :: “THE PEDDLER”

THE BASICS

The peddler, Padan Fain, comes to town and bring news, stories, and tales from outside. 

WHAT HAPPENS

Last we left the boys, they had just met the Lady Moiraine but their arguing has been cut off by the sounds of the approaching wagon. Padan Fain is a pale and bony man that has been visiting the Two Rivers for as long as anyone can remember. 

As the peddler rolls into town, the Village Council and villagers as a whole crowd around his cart, asking questions and prompting him to speak, but Fain just keeps his silence. Another village boy and friend of Rand and Mat named Perrin Aybara finds them in the crowd. He’s much stockier than them, with curly hair and the build of the blacksmith he is apprenticing under. 

Finally the peddler stands on his wagon and begins his tale. Someone asks what could possibly be worse than wolves killing sheep, and the peddler’s answer is “men killing men.” He tells the crowd about the was in Ghealdan, of soldiers marching, ravens flying, and blood shed. Everyone starts chittering amongst themselves, and once someone verbalizes concern about the Dragon and the Dark One, it spreads like wildfire until the whole crowd is talking about it. Haral Luhhan is quick to point out that the Dragon is not the Dark One; all things aside, this is a false Dragon they are talking about, not the real one. 

The Council pulls Fain into the inn to speak with him and sends the crowds home, and the boys begin talking about the Dragon, Aes Sedai, and the Dark One again (see Breakdown). Nynaeve al-Meara, the village Wisdom, enters here, with Egwene behind her. Mat is talking about goading another boy into naming the Dark One on purpose. Nynaeve scolds him, asking why they would talk about something they have no business talking about. Rand answers her eventually, explaining that they were just talking about what the peddler was talking about. Nynaeve disappears angrily into the inn, mumbling about the Women’s Circle. 

Egwene doesn’t follow her into the inn. Rand’s glad for this, but when he blurts out to Egwene a question of whether she would dance with him tomorrow, he gets nervous. They start talking about the future, and she shows him her braided hair, revealing that Nynaeve believes she will make a good Wisdom and has started to train her. She tells him that she might not ever marry, simply because most Wisdoms don’t ever marry. Rand comments that Nynaeve will probably be Wisdom for the next 50 years, but Egwene points out that she’ll just go to a different village. Rand isn’t happy about this, but Egwene pretends not to notice. Eventually, she begins to ignore him.

The others come up to Rand, eager to explain how Perrin received a coin from the Lady Moiraine as well, and he has also seen the black rider. Egwene turns on them, and in an exasperated tone, calls them all foolish for believing fairy tales. She is cut off when a white-haired man bursts out of the front door of the inn.  

COMMENTS

Honestly, Rand and Egwene’s relationship as characters is one of my favorite things in the series. The details I won’t go into because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I love pretty much any interaction the two have with each other. 

THE BREAKDOWN :: Chapter Three

The Peddler - Padan Fain, Ghealdan, false Dragon.

Padan Fain is a peddler that travels around collecting stories and tales and taking them with him as he goes. He is a skinny and pale man with long, gangly arms and a hooked nose. He’s been visiting Emond’s Field as long as Rand can remember. 

Armies march to the Dhallin Forest in Ghealdan to see a false Dragon. There hasn’t been anyone claiming to be the Dragon in twenty years, and now there are three in the last five years. This last one already already has Aes Sedai coming to take him, whether he can or can’t use the One Power. 

Some people believe that the Dragon Reborn will come to save mankind, but few talk about it out of fear of both the Children of the Light and the Aes Sedai. Another superstition held by the Two Rivers folk, they believe that naming the Dark One, an act of using the Dark One’s real name, “Shai’tan,” brings bad luck. The boys recall a time when another villager, Bili Congar, once named the Dark One and has since had terrible luck.

Until next week....

:: Lanestrider

Hello, and welcome to part two of our reread of The Eye of the World! My name is Matthew, and I am a writer, artist, and game developer from Arizona.

This post will cover The Eye of the World, Chapters 1-2. If you haven’t been following this since the beginning, you can catch up on the Introduction and Prologue in my first post, here.

CHAPTER ONE :: “AN EMPTY ROAD”

THE BASICS

Rand al’Thor tries to convince his father Tam that there is a rider cloaked in black following them as they are traveling into town for the festival, but Tam doesn’t believe him. Eventually they meet up with old friends in Emond’s Field and forget about the rider temporarily.

WHAT HAPPENS

In the beginning of Chapter One: An Empty Road, we find one of the protagonists of the series, Rand al’Thor, on his way with his father Tam into nearby town Emond’s Field with a cart-full of apple brandy and cider barrels for the upcoming festival. Their horse Bela is pulling the cart. This road they are following, called the Quarry Road, cuts through the Westwood and takes them right from their farmhouse into the town of Emond’s Field. It is noted that winter has been especially harsh and still hangs on even when it should have been long gone. Also worthy to point out, Rand is unusually tall and fair with orange-brown hair and gray eyes.

During their journey, the feeling of being watched continues to gnaw at Rand. Eventually he glances over his shoulder to see a black-cloaked figure on a black horse following not that far behind them. Oddly, the wind doesn’t move the rider’s cloak at all, even as it is is twirling Rand’s cloak furiously. He can’t see all but the faintest outline of a face under the cowl, and feels nothing but hatred from the shadowed gaze.  Rand trips over a stone in the road, but when he looks back up at where the rider and horse were, he sees nothing. Trying to explain this to Tam, he is just figuratively patted on the head and met with skepticism, albeit told that Tam believes him. 

Tam uses this moment to remind Rand about the “flame and the void”, a concept he uses to win archery tournaments at festivals. It consists of focusing all of your thoughts on a single flame on a field of black, and then feeding the flame all emotion and passion until your mind becomes empty.

On the way through Emond’s Field to the Winespring Inn, they cross paths with a number of characters. Most notably, Wit Congar stops them to complain about the new Wisdom of Emond’s Field being too young, until his wife comes out to rebuke him. They continue through the town of neat, thatched-roof houses and see everyone setting up for the yearly Bel Tine festival. 

At the Winespring Inn, Bran al’Vere, both the innkeeper of the Winespring Inn as well as the mayor of Emond’s Field, greets them. Bran is the father of Egwene, a village girl that Rand fancies and is, in some respect, all but betrothed to. Tam stops to talk to Bran, but they are interrupted by Cenn Buie, the village thatcher, who has nothing but bad things to say about the state of the Two Rivers, complaining about everything from the weather to the omens of wolves and ravens.

Here we meet Mat Cauthon, who tugs on Rand’s sleeve and pulls him away from the discussion. Mat is a mischievous young adult who never grew up, always describing his last immature escapade with a twinkle in his eye. He goes into the last one about how he and some friends caught a badger and were considering letting it loose elsewhere in town to watch the girls run and scream. Rand is less interested in listening to Mat’s childish antics than anything else, and tries to get out of it by explaining how he needs to help his father unload the barrels. In Mat’s complaining about work, he mentions something that reminds Rand of the black-cloaked rider, and they find out that they’ve both seen it. They compare details, but Rand doesn’t approve of Mat’s theories that it might be the Dark One or one of the Forsaken, the dark followers of the Dark One. He recites a childhood saying claiming that the Dark One and the Forsaken alike are all bound in Shayol Ghul until the end of time. 

When Tam sees Mat, he recruits both of the boys to come help unload the cider. 

CHAPTER TWO :: “STRANGERS”

THE BASICS

Rand and Mat finish carrying the barrels into the Winespring Inn, have a run in with a strange raven, meet Lady Moraine and Lan, and discover that both a peddler and a gleeman are coming this year to Bel Tine.

WHAT HAPPENS

Rand and Mat carry the barrels from the car into the Winespring Inn, depositing them in the cellar while Tam finds a place in the common room in front of the fireplace and mantel. Some of the Village Council is in the inn right now, but Rand is just nervous about running into Egwene. He tries not to think about it. Mat pulls him away from staring at some of the Village Council members as Mistress al’Vere, wife of Bran al’Vere, rushes in with honeycakes for the council. Mat remarks about how he covered some dogs in flour and set them loose near someone’s house in town, and then proceeded to spread rumors of ghost dogs in Emond’s Field. He suspects that Master Luhhan, the blacksmith, knows that it was him. 

Finally done with the barrels, the boys run into Ewin Finngar, a friend of theirs who came to tell them about the “strangers” in Emond’s Field. One is a man named Lan with a cloak that changes colors and seems to fade into whatever is behind him, and wears his sword like it’s a part of him. The other is a woman named Lady Moiraine who they think is some kind of highborn lady. Mat says that he forgot to tell Rand about them. They arrived the night before and are staying at the Winespring Inn. Apparently, Moraine had a meeting with Nynaeve, the town Wisdom, and accidentally offended her by implying that she was a child. 

Mat announced that there will be a gleeman, raising excitement from Rand and Ewin. They follow Mat out of the cellar and through the common room, where all eight of the Village Council has gathered. Outside, Rand feels the eery feeling of being watched again, and notices a raven staring at them from a nearby roof. They throw rocks at it, but it just steps aside and lets the rocks sail past. The boys are greeted by Moiraine from behind them, at which point the raven takes flight. 

Moiraine is a beautiful woman with dark, deep eyes and whose age is nearly impossible to guess, with a regal grace and air of command. She is short, but lived up to any and all of their stories and gleeman’s tales. Moiraine gives all three of the boys each a coin, and tells them that she is a student of history. She implies that the Two Rivers had not always been called that, before telling them that she will talk to them later. Slipping away, a tall man follows her, and Ewin is quick to point out that it is Lan. 

Eventually, the sound of the peddler’s wagon coming over the bridge breaks up their banter and sends the three boys in that direction. 

COMMENTS

As stated before, The Eye of the World draws a lot of inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Here we learn about boys in a small town who begin seeing things out of the ordinary and realizing that there is a lot more out there than they’ve seen in their lifetimes. With the arrival of strange newcomers, they get to catch a glimpse of what they’ve old heard of in stories. A lot of things in Emond’s Field parallels Hobbiton in many ways, as you’ll see in following chapters. 

THE BREAKDOWN :: Chapters One and Two

The Two Rivers - The Two Rivers, Emond’s Field, The Westwood, The Sand Hills, The Mountains of Mist.

The Two Rivers is a small, often forgotten section far in the western side of the country of Andor. Within it are several towns, including Taren Ferry, Watch Hill, Deven Ride, and the aforementioned Emond’s Field. To the east are the looming Mountains of Mist and the Sand Hills which lead into the Westwood. The Winespring Water, the river for which the Inn is named, runs from the mountains east through Emond’s Field and out into the Waterwood at the eastern edge of the Two Rivers. 

Emond’s Field - Bel Tine festival, mayor, Village Council, Wisdom, Women’s Circle, Winespring Inn.

Emond’s Field is where the story begins, and is one of the four main towns in the Two Rivers. Bel Tine, the celebration of the end of winter and beginning of spring, is the reason Rand and Tam are making their way into town. 

In town, you are introduced the Village Council. There are eight men on the council, but only seven are named in the book. Including Tam al’Thor, Bran al’Vere, and Cenn Buie, the others are Rowan Hurn, Samel Crawe, Haral Luhhan, Jon Thane, and an eighth left unnamed. Bran al’Vere is also the mayor of Emond’s Field, as well as serving as the innkeeper of the Winespring Inn. His wife is Mistress al’Vere and his daughter is Egwene al’Vere. 

Conversely, the Women’s Circle is a council of women. Both the Women’s Circle and Village Council are often at odds with each other. The Women’s Circle is responsible for certain duties such as the timing of planting and harvesting crops, while the Village Council handles matters that affect the village as a whole or overlap with other towns. 

Nynaeve is briefly mentioned in Chapter Two: Strangers and confirmed as being the town Wisdom, which is a woman in a village who has a great knowledge of healing and is usually gifted at foretelling the weather. The Wisdom is chosen by a village’s Women’s Circle and serves her entire life, often at a level regarded as equal or above even the mayor. 

The Darkness - Shayol Ghul, the Great Blight, Ishamael, Aginor.

As the saying goes, the Creator imprisoned and bound the Dark One and the Forsaken at the moment of Creation far north past the land called the Great Blight in Shayol Ghul. The Forsaken are the thirteen most powerful Aes Sedai that ever lived who went to the Shadow, and whose names are used to frighten children to this day. Two are mentioned in these chapters — Aginor and Ishamael.

The Strangers - Lan, Lady Moiraine.

Lan is described as being a tall man with long hair that is turning gray at the temples and held back with a leather cord around his head. He wears a cloak that shifts colors and blends in with whatever is behind him, and wears his sword like it is a part of him. The boys speculate that he is a Warder, a mystical warrior that does battle against the Shadow in the stories far north in the Great Blight and in Shayol Ghul. Other than that, not much is known about Lan, other than he seems to be in service to the Lady Moiraine.

Until next week....

:: Lanestrider

INTRODUCTION

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

Greetings, fellow internet travelers!

My name is Matthew, and I am a writer, artist, and game developer from Arizona. I am beyond thrilled and honored to be writing this at the moment, and it still has yet to sink in. Never will I forget picking up what would soon become my tattered copy of The Eye of the World, dust jacket abused and spine shot to hell, and finished it within the week. I was absolutely enchanted. J.R.R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit was the first actual book I had read (followed by The Lord of the Rings) and this book by Robert Jordan perfectly paid just the right level of homage to both. I was hooked by the believable characters and the amazing places and the incredible story that wove everything together.

Now, close to twelve years later, I find myself on the site I’ve been reading for years, writing a reread for the series that defined who I was as a writer and is second only to Tolkien’s work in giving me this unhealthy love for fantasy. This is definitely incredible.

WHAT TO EXPECT

This is NOT one of those chapter summaries rife with spoilers. This is NOT a blow by blow synopsis detailing every aspect of symbolism and psycho-analysis into the characters as a whole in reflection to their growth over the rest of the series.

This IS a spoiler-free reread of The Wheel of Time series. Every week we will cover a number of chapters and present them in a manner friendly to new readers as well as those rereading the series. If you have finished the series and are looking for in depth analysis and cross-referenced bookkeeping, this might not be the blog for you. If you are trying to catch up to a certain point or where you last left off in the series, are looking for a refresher, or are reading along as you read each chapter, this might just be the place for you, especially if you haven't finished the series and don't want spoilers sneaking in under the radar.

Each post will start with THE BASICS, which is a quick and easy summary of the events in the chapter. After that, we will break down all of the important events in the chapter in WHAT HAPPENS. Following that section, THE BREAKDOWN will include a type of glossary and reference to all major terms, places, and characters in the chapter, presented in an informational but yet hopefully spoiler-free manner. Finally, I will close each post with a COMMENTS section, where I will talk about my thoughts of each chapter after I read it.

I hope that you enjoy what I am doing here as much as I do writing it. Here goes nothing....

PROLOGUE :: "DRAGONMOUNT"

THE BASICS

Lews Therin Telamon, discovers that he killed his wife and everyone close to him when he is visited by an old adversary, Elan Morin Tedroni, before ending his life in a world-changing display of power. 

WHAT HAPPENS

Things aren’t looking great. We find ourselves in Prologue: Dragonmount at a location known only as a palace. It assumedly belongs to Lews Therin Telamon, the man wandering the halls of the palace confused and completely out of it. Carnage has laid waste to the once-beautiful imagery around him, leaving furniture, wall tapestries, and people cut down to their final rest all the same. Lews has no idea that Ilyena, his wife, is laying lifeless on the ground nearby, even though he continues looking for her in his confusion.

In all of the disarray, a new character blinks into existence. Elan Morin Tedronai steps out of thin air and begins to taunt Lews Therin, apparently there to kill him but is a little put off that Lews doesn’t remember who he is. Over the course of this conversation, Lews wanders seemly aimless while looking for his wife and making small talk with Elan Morin, hardly acknowledging anything the other man says. Elan Morin, however, goes into detail about Lews Therin’s past, insinuating that they are enemies.

Elan Morin is known as the Betrayer of Hope, something that Lews Therin barely remembers and then pushes out of mind. Lews Therin is referred to as Lord of the Morning, and moreover, he is the Dragon. Elan Morin goes into a list of accomplishments under Lews Therin’s belt, including having stood among the Servants, worn the Ring of Tamyrlin, sat on the High Seat, summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion, humbled Elan Morin in the Hall of Servants and then defeated him at the Gates of Paaran Disen. Most of these don’t mean anything to us right now, and serve only to shed some light on how powerful Lews Therin was at his pinnacle. Elan Morin also says that after today Lews Therin will be known as Kinslayer, but gets no response from the other man.

Angered that Lews Therin still has no idea what is going on, Elan Morin uses the True Power (not to be confused with the True Source) to Heal him and give back some of his sanity. It is then when Lews Therin realizes what has happened to his wife, his children, family, servants, friends, companions.... Elan Morin wastes no time pointing out that Great Lord of the Dark can bring Ilyena back, if only he bend the knee and serve his master. Lews Therin threatens Elan Morin in a fit of rage but is reminded that all of this was Lews Therin’s fault, something that silences him momentarily.

After processing everything, Lews Therin uses the One Power to Travel, disappearing from the palace and appearing somewhere in another place where the land is flat and empty save for a river. All he can see in his tears is his wife and family. He screams to the sky, asking the Light for forgiveness. Lews Therin pulls on the One Power more deeply than he ever had, pulling enough to kill him a thousand times over, and brings destruction down on himself. In his place, the earth shakes and cracks and a single mountain rises, and the river is bent outward and left with an island in the middle of its flow.

Elan Morin blinks into existence on that island, taking note of everything that had just happened. Angrily, he says aloud that the Dragon cannot escape so easily and that their conflict is not over and will not be until the end of time. He then disappears.

We are left with the mountain and the island.

THE BREAKDOWN

The Basics - The Wheel of Time. The True Source, the One Power, The True Power. Saidin and saidar. Aes Sedai.

The Wheel of Time is the namesake of the entire series and the definitive embodiment of time itself. The True Source, in turn, is the universe's driving force and what the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time. It is divided into two parts; saidin, the male half, and saidar, the female half. These halves are utilized by those called Aes Sedai, who channel their respective half, called the One Power, to produce a desired effect. Saidin was tainted by the Dark One, causing all male users of the One Power to eventually go insane. In the prologue alone, different methods, or Talents, of using the One Power such as the Healing and Traveling are mentioned. However, there is another power, referred to as the True Power (not to be confused with the True Source), which is the Dark One's version of the True Source, and is available to any channelers who the Dark One allows to wield it. Unlike the True Source, the True Power is not divided into two gender-specific pieces, but instead is wholly accessible by any person who has permission. In layman's terms, the True Source and by extension the One Power are derived from the Creator, while the True Power is derived from the Dark One. More on this later in the series when it becomes more important. 

"The One Power comes from the True Source, the driving force of creation, the force the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time. Saidin, the male half of the True Source, and saidar, the female half, work against each other, and at the same time together to provide that force. Saidin is fouled by the touch of the Dark One, like water with a thin slick of rancid oil floating on top. The water is still pure, but it cannot be touched without touching the foulness. Only saidar is still safe to be used... The True Source cannot be used up, any more than the river can be used up by the wheel of the mill. The Source is the river; the Aes Sedai, the waterwheel."

- Moiraine Damodred

The Eye of the World, Chapter 12, "Across the Taren"

Light and Shadow - Light and Shadow. Creator and Dark One. Shai'tan, the Dark One, the Great Lord of the Dark.

In generic realization, the Creator is the embodiment of good and is considered the Light, while the Shadow is reserved for his enemy, the Dark One. At the moment of creation, the Creator imprisoned the Dark One. He has since been able to touch the world again, and has taken on many names from Shai'tan, to the Dark One, to the Great Lord of the Dark.

Adversaries - Lews Therin Telamon. Elan Morin Tedroni. Ilyeana Sunhair. The Hundred Companions.

Lews Therin Telamon is the Dragon and husband of Ilyena Sunhair. His other names include Lord of the Morning, as well as Kinslayer. He is dazed because the taint on saidin is driving him mad, something that Elan Morin Tedroni Heals him of partially. Before the events in the prologue, Lews Therin was a great leader who led a group of followers called The Hundred Companions against the Dark One, leading to the eventual taint on saidin.

The Mountain and the Island - Dragonmount. Tar Valon.

What you will soon find out is that the mountain raised on the spot of Lews Therin's death is what has become known as Dragonmount. In its shadow on the island, amidst the River Erinin, is where Tar Valon was built, the modern capital and center of Aes Sedai power.

COMMENTS

Honestly, this is one of my favorite chapters in all of the series. It is iconic, the imagery is breathtaking, and the subject is almost haunting. Lews Therin Telamon, an incredibly successful leader of his era, comes to the realization that he has gone mad and that he has accidentally killed everyone important to him. While not necessarily emotion-evoking to every reader, I doubt that you can fully comprehend the gravity of this without at least acknowledging the genuine sorrow elicited through this revelation.

While there is definitely more to every story, regardless of whether Lews Therin's actions were actually accidental or not, or even entirely his fault or not, the grave situation at hand is still bleak at best, and Elan Morin is still a horrible bastard.

Until next week....

:: Lanestrider

Welcome back to another edition of Dragonmount's Theory Blog, "WoT If?".  We're continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 39 and 40.

Synopsis (taken from Encyclopaedia-Wot.org):

Chapter 39, "Weavings of the Web"

Apparently, Rand and Mat have been in Caemlyn for several days. Today is the day that Logain is brought into town. Rand is going to go see Logain. He asks Mat if he wants to go as well, but Mat declines. It seems that Mat has not been out of their room since they arrived. Master Gill had told Rand of a woman named Mother Grubb who sounded a bit like a Wisdom, but Rand does not visit her. He meets Master Gill at the foot of the stairs and Master Gill says he heard that some beggar is looking for him and Mat and that there are rumors of strange shapes creeping around outside the city at night. Master Gill recommends leaving by the back way, which Rand does. At the end of the alley is Lamgwin who has been hired to help keep the inn safe. Rand has found out the meanings of the red and white cloth that everyone is wearing. The red is support for Queen Morgase and white is for those who believe her involvement with the Aes Sedai is to blame for everything going wrong. The outer part of the city is called the New City. He makes his way into the Inner City and finds a spot to watch for Logain. He is not there for long before a beggar bursts through the crowd on the other side of the street. The beggar looks around and then points directly at Rand. Rand backs out of the crowd and runs the other way. He finally finds a wall where he thinks he can see Logain pass by and he scrambles to the top of it. He scrapes his hands and knees on the way up. He is just in time as the procession comes into view. Eventually Logain comes into view on a wagon inside a large cage with iron bars. There are two Aes Sedai at each corner shielding him. They are accompanied by a dozen Warders. Logain has the presence of a king. The crowd goes quiet as he passes and then resumes screaming after he passes. Logain throws his head back and laughs and then his wagon enters the Palace grounds. He wonders aloud "Why were the Aes Sedai watching him?" A girl's nearby voice says "They're keeping him from touching the True Source, silly." He is startled, falls off the wall, and gets knocked unconscious.

Chapter 40, "The Web Tightens"

Rand awakes on the ground with a bleeding head. Elayne and Gawyn climb down from a tree. Elayne starts to tend to Rand's injury, bandaging his head with a silk scarf. Gawyn mentions Elaida, Lini and Gareth Bryne. He served under three Queens and as Captain-General and First Prince Regent for two. Rand asks who their mother is and Gawyn tells him she is Morgase. At that, Rand starts for the wall to leave. Gawyn asks Rand to tell them his name and where he is from, which he does. Gawyn says "Elayne ought to choose her husband from there," meaning the Two Rivers. Galad walks up. Rand tries to remember what Hyam Kinch and Basel Gill told him about Galad. Galad distrusts Rand and wants to arrest him, but Elayne stops him. Galad then leaves. Soon after, guards arrive led by Tallanvor. He and the rest of the guards escort Rand, Gawyn and Elayne to Morgase. On the way, Rand notes only one cat. Elayne explains that Elaida hates rats and keeps them away. With Morgase are Elaida and Bryne. Morgase chastises Elayne and Gawyn, mentioning that they will be going to Tar Valon in two days with Logain's escort. She saw him up close and thinks he is still dangerous. Elaida comes over to study Rand and notices his heron-marked sword. Elaida asks Rand where he got his sword. He replies that his father gave it to him. Elaida is suspicious, but Bryne says the sword belongs with him. Elaida asks where Rand is staying. He lies and says The Crown and Lion. Elaida has a Foretelling:

"From this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet to darken to its blackest, and I cannot see if the Light will come after. Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands." She whispers the rest to Rand, "Pain and division come to the whole world, and this man stands in the heart of it."

Morgase questions him and then decides to release him, much to Elaida's displeasure. She recognizes Two Rivers speech from when she was young. Tallanvor, Elayne, Gawyn and several guards escort Rand to the front gate. Gawyn tells Rand he looks like an Aielman. Rand runs away from the Royal Palace.

My take:

There's not a lot in these two chapters that leads to things we don't already know.  These scenes are for building up tension, to spark more conflict between Rand and his surroundings, as well as inside Rand himself.  But for us who have read the series a dozen times and counting, they seem almost common now.  Especially the foreshadowing of his relationship with Elayne, and his Aiel heritage.

Still, there are a few things that always amaze me about these chapters as well.  First, Logain.  It was this scene of Logain trapped in a box and laughing that made me love him as a character.  There is something so insanely awesome about Rand noticing how, even though Logain's caged, he's nowhere near beaten.  Logain has so much spunk left in him, and we know that as early as book one!  That's amazing! 

And I just can't help but laugh at the irony, even now, of Logain's behavior on seeing Rand.  From Rand's perspective, he can't tell Logain is looking in his direction.  And it's not till much, much later that we find out why Logain laughed the way he did (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 30, "To Heal Again").  But here, it makes Logain seem totally badass.  And it's also so impressive that Robert Jordan knew that Logain, first, had the Talent for seeing ta'veren, and had the ability to bring this reference full circle (letting us in on the joke) in Lord of Chaos.  I don't know how many times I've said it, but Mr. Jordan sure had a lot of skill in making his plotlines synch.  And it's also what makes these re-reads so much fun!

We also get a glimpse of a few characters who come into play later—another instance of Mr. Jordan's wonderful planning.  We see Lamgwin, who helps Morgase escape Caemlyn with Basil Gill, and we see Tallenvor, Morgase's eventual husband.  It's strange to see Tallenvor like this, because of how low in the ranks he is here.  How weird to think how much he and Morgase go through as the series progresses.  Right now, Morgase is still in love with Gareth Bryne, and Tallenvor is way below her notice.  My, how things change.

And one other thing to note is that Rand compares Elayne to Nynaeve and Moiraine.  He's saying it in relation to her "self-possession," but I wonder if he's able to sense her ability to channel.  Because Nynaeve doesn't have much self-possession, at least nothing like the nobility inside Moiraine and Elayne.  Nynaeve is strong willed, but she often—or always—lets her emotions control her, flying off the handle about anything and everything.  That's not the definition of self-possession; almost the opposite, in fact.  Nynaeve does always believe she is right, and will bully anyone who doesn't agree, but that's still not the same thing.

I'm sure Elayne—under Elaida's supervision—has probably touched saidar before.  We know Moiraine channeled in the Sun Palace in Cairhein before going to Tar Valon herself (The Eye of the World, Chapter 53, "The Wheel Turns"), so it would make logical sense that Elayne could be touching the True Source, even if still subconsciously.  And I wouldn't doubt for a second that Rand is able to feel that inside her already.

And there is always a stab of regret when reading about Gawyn and Rand.  They could have been friends so easily, but Gawyn messed it up so badly.  And seeing Rand come into contact with Galad is a bit funny too.  We don't know it yet, but the "handsomest man Rand had ever seen" turns out to be his half-brother.  Sometimes, this feels like a soap opera. 

That's all I've got to say about these two chapters.  We'll pick up next time with the arrival of Moiraine and company, and a flight from Caemlyn!  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of Dragonmount's Theory Blog, "WoT If?".  We're continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 37 and 38.

Synopsis, taken from Encyclopaedia-WoT:

Chapter 37, "The Long Chase"

After several days on the Caemlyn Road, Moiraine, Lan and Nynaeve head north following the remaining token. One evening, Moiraine senses the token is gone. A few hours later it is back. One night, Lan returns from scouting and says he found them in a Whitecloak camp. There are wolves around. There is dim moonlight from the waning moon. Nynaeve enters the camp to steal two extra horses and finds Bela. Nynaeve feels certain they will need the extra horse. After cutting the picket lines, lightning flashes causing the horses to scatter. She sees a wolf helping to panic the horses. She rides Bela and leads another horse out of the camp.

Chapter 38, "Rescue"

Perrin and Egwene are prisoners of the Whitecloaks. It is nighttime and they are in a tent. Jaret Byar enters and offers them a chance to escape. Perrin thinks it is a trap. Before he can do anything, Dapple tells them that help is coming. He also gets an image that Elyas is wounded, but alive. Lan enters the tent and knocks out Jaret Byar. They reach Moiraine, but Nynaeve has not returned. Lan almost goes after Nynaeve despite Moiraine's orders. Moiraine says that Lan is "al'Lan Mandragoran, Lord of the Seven Towers" and mentions the "oath of a Diademed Battle Lord of the Malkieri." Nynaeve returns with Bela and another horse. They ride for several hours, then make camp. Nynaeve notices Perrin's yellow eyes. She rubs ointment into his bruises and they heal remarkably fast. Moiraine knows what it is, but will not comment further. Lan, who also knows of wolves, asks Perrin if there was an intermediary. Lan knows Elyas. He says that Elyas Machera was a Warder and his teacher before his change happened. He implies that the Red Ajah tried to gentle Elyas Machera. There is a slivered moon. It is a few hard days to Caemlyn.

My take:

We're back to Perrin.  I was so caught up in Rand's affairs that I forgot about poor Perrin and his Whitecloak friends. 

The first chapter is from Nynaeve's point of view, and a few things about her character clicked for me while reading it.  First is her budding feelings for Lan (and his returned feelings in the next chapter).  But more importantly is how she deals with fear.  Look at this quote from when she was cutting the Whitecloaks' horse lines:

Her arms and legs trembled so that she was afraid to touch the picket rope, but her mind was as clear as the Winespring Water. Whichever of the boys was in the camp, Egwene was there, too. And if they left riding double, some of the Children would catch them no matter how well the horses were scattered, and some of them would die. She was as certain as if she were listening to the wind. That stuck a spike of fear into her belly, fear of how she was certain. This had nothing to do with weather or crops or sickness. Why did Moiraine tell me I can use the Power? Why couldn't she leave me alone?

 

Strangely, the fear stilled her trembling. With hands as steady as if she were grinding herbs in her own house she slit the picket rope as she had the others.

Notice how she handles the fear.  It's the fear that calms her.  Just think of how much terror she had inside her if it's what causes her to act normal.  How often would she be terrified back home in the Two Rivers, where the women don't respect her because she's too young, and the men don't respect her because she's pretty?  That amount of fear would be staggering.  And it's only logical to conclude that that fear would lead to anger (as wise Yoda once said).  

When you view her like this, it's almost impossible to not pity Nynaeve.  And it's no surprise she had a hard time surrendering to saidar.  In fact, I think the first time she was able to come to terms with her fear was when she felt responsible for Birgette being ripped from Tel'aran'rhiod.  It completely broke her, and she had to confront her fear and realize how much it dominated her life.  Once she recuperated from that traumatic event, she really matured as a character.  Yes, she was still angry most of the time, but not to cover fear—just because she has a surly personality.  

I also like how she realizes the One Power is inside her no matter what she does.  As I said in an earlier blog, it's so heart wrenching to see how much the One Power is misunderstood and feared, and to see it from Nynaeve's point of view, finding out first hand what that horror feels like.  But then, when we find out Rand can channel just a few chapters later, it's even more shocking.  It's like Nynaeve's predicament, but a hundred times worse. 

I think that makes us, as readers, instantly supportive of Rand.  I think that's why we forgive him so many of his sins.  I think that's why we loved him even when he approached the darkness and madness.  It seems like, with Nynaeve, Robert Jordan was showing us a really sad, pitiful example of a person being wronged.  Then, with Rand, we're shown that those same hurts all over again, except we add rubbing salt and lemon juice on his open wounds.  It makes everything worse.

But when we move onto Perrin's point of view in Chapter 38, we're shown a different kind of pity.  Nynaeve is fighting her destiny tooth and nail, while Perrin has just surrendered almost from the start.  Or, appears to surrender.  His struggles with his wolfbrother abilities surpass Nynaeve's inability to grasp saidar, but Perrin goes about it in such a different way.  But that's beside the point right now.

Perrin is defeated in this scene.  He's so afraid for himself and Egwene that he can't even sleep despite his exhaustion.  And he's probably more scared for Egwene than himself; that's just the kind of person he is.  He understands the hopelessness of their situation, knowing he'd "probably confess to anything just to make the Questioners stop."

I love Perrin so much in this book.  Despite what you think he becomes later, it's very difficult to deny how perfect he is during these few scenes.  He's discovered things about himself that scare him, but he pushes on.  He feels responsible for Egwene, so he does his best to protect her—even to the point of taking her life rather than let her be eaten by Shadowspawn ravens.  His pain just clenches my stomach.

And now that I look at that, this is also something that prepares us for how horrible things get for Rand.  Yes, Perrin's wolfbrother abilities—and his rejection of them—is similar to Rand's own rejection of saidin.  But I think it goes deeper than that.  Perrin claims to have accepted his fate, claims he won't fight against it.  Rand does that same thing, saying he'll go and die at Shayol Ghul, that he'll be the sacrifice the world needs.  

It seems to me that every character's hardest challenges are reflected on Rand—that Rand overcomes everyone else's worst situations:

He deals with the fear of the ability to channel, like Nynaeve.

He deals with the burden of leadership, like Perrin.

He deals with past memories in his head, like Mat.

He deals with being made captive, like Egwene.

Everyone's suffering is combined into what Rand al'Thor must face.  He really does confront the burdens of the entire world.

Again, this is why we love and forgive him so easily, I think.  Mr. Jordan did such a beautiful job of making him suffer, and we know it, and pity him.  

Well, that got me a bit sidetracked.  There's a few other points I'd like to make on Chapter 38.  One being the changes in Jaret Byar after this encounter with Perrin.  One of the things Perrin is so disgusted by is Byar's lack of emotions:

But Byar did not really threaten; as if he were talking about getting a drink of water he talked about hot irons and pincers, about knives slicing away skin and needles piercing. He did not appear to be trying to frighten them. There was never even a touch of gloating in his eyes. He just did not care if they were frightened or not, if they were tortured or not, if they were alive or not. That was what brought cold sweat to Perrin's face once it got through to him. That was what finally convinced him Byar was telling the simple truth.

Byar does not care if Perrin and Egwene lived or died.  But after this, Byar is filled with a vengeance to see Perrin dead.  This vengeance is multiplied when Bornhald is killed at the end of The Great Hunt.  So why would this simple prisoner, and his escape, cause Byar to lose his mind so spectacularly?  Bubble of evil, is my opinion.  Something must have come along the Pattern, drawn by Perrin's ta'veren thread, and landed on Byar.  So many of the plots of the Whitecloaks in the later books are due to Byar—who was poisoned by this evil—poisoning Dain Bornhald's mind.

And we're back to Nynaeve and Lan.  Here's another quote (one of my favorites in this book), from when Moiraine is telling Lan that Nynaeve's not back from the horse lines yet.

"Nynaeve has not returned. I fear that young woman has done something foolish." Lan spun on his heel as if to return the way they had come, but a single whipcrack word from Moiraine halted him. "No!" He stood looking at her sideways, only his face and hands truly visible, and they but dimly shadowed blurs. She went on in a gentler tone; gentler but no less firm. "Some things are more important than others. You know that." The Warder did not move, and her voice hardened again. "Remember your oaths, al'Lan Mandragoran, Lord of the Seven Towers! What of the oath of a Diademed Battle Lord of the Malkieri?"

And even after all this, Lan still doesn't move.  He is determined to go save Nynaeve, even after Moiraine calls him out on his oaths.  He's obviously very much in love with her already.  It gives me shivers, thinking of him being so defiant to Moiraine, willing to forsake his oaths, just to save Nynaeve.  And when Nynaeve does return, he grabs her by the arm, staring at her. 

This is the most emotion we've seen out of the man so far.  And since he is showing emotions, we have to know that they are very strong.

And I like that Nynaeve laughs when he releases her.  She knows she got through his thick wall of faked indifference.  Good for her.

And with that little lapse in Lan's iron-clad emotions, he's almost fond in his discussion with Perrin later.  He really does care about the Two Rivers folk, even if he tires to deny it at first.  

I think we'll end at that.  We'll continue with the next few chapters, and Rand's unfortunate fall off the palace walls, next time.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of Dragonmount's Theory Blog, "WoT If?".  We're continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 35 and 36.

Synopsis, taken from Encyclopaedia-WoT:

Chapter 35, "Caemlyn"

Rand and Mat have arrived in Caemlyn in the back of Almen Bunt's cart. He tells them about the city; the Inner City was built by Ogier. Bunt turns down a side street and stops. Rand and Mat get out. Bunt asks if Rand's blade is really heron-marked. Bunt lets them know that he does not like Holdwin. Bunt then drives away. Rand remembers that Thom said to go to The Queen's Blessing. They start asking for directions. They notice that many people are wearing red or white strips of cloth or cording. Rand buys some of the red cloth and a white cord and wraps it around his sword to hide the heron mark. They see Whitecloaks in the street. They finally find The Queen's Blessing. They go in and meet Basel Gill. Rand tells him that Thom told them to come here. Master Gill leads them to the stableyard and asks them what is in the case they are carrying. Rand shows him Thom's flute and cloak. Rand tells Master Gill that Thom is dead, but Master Gill says that he'll believe that when he sees the corpse. Master Gill guesses correctly that the boys are having troubles with Aes Sedai. Master Gill tries to ask if either of them can channel. Rand denies it. Master Gill says that he will give them a room and some food. He also tells the boys a little of Thom's past. Thom was once a court bard in Caemlyn. Thom was intimate with Morgase, but then some trouble with his nephew came up and Thom left. When he returned, Thom and Morgase had an argument and Thom left Caemlyn one step ahead of the headsman's axe. Gareth Bryne, Captain-General of the Queen's Guard, probably still remembers.

Chapter 36, "Web of the Pattern"

Rand and Mat are inside The Queen's Blessing. Master Gill gives them a small meal. Rand tells Master Gill an abbreviated version of their tale so far. Master Gill advises against going to Elaida for help because of their connection with Thom. The cook then calls Master Gill away. As he leaves he tells them there is a recent infestation of rats. The boys finish their meals and then a serving girl shows them up to their attic room. They put their things down. Mat lies down on a bed and Rand goes back downstairs. A guardsman enters the inn, looks around, and then leaves. Rand asks the serving girl if there is another place where he could sit. She suggests the library. Rand enters the library and is amazed at the number of books. They include The Travels of Jain Farstrider, Essays of Willim of Maneches and Voyages Among the Sea Folk. He meets Loial, son of Arent, son of Halan there, who he first thinks is a Trolloc. They introduce themselves and Loial tells Rand that he has run away to see the Ogier groves and cities. The groves have Great Trees hundreds of feet tall. He has been in Caemlyn four days. Ogier rarely leave the stedding any more since the Ways started going bad six generations ago, just after the Hundred Years War. He has already seen Cairhien, which he calls Al'cair'rahienallen, Hill of the Golden Dawn in the Old Tongue. The Tear grove is now pasture and the Illian grove is the King's park. Loial quotes, "Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared screaming defiance with the last breath to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day." Confused, Rand asks Loial if the Great Trees are like Avendesora. Loial is now confused, saying Rand should know better than he does. He thinks Rand is Aiel. Rand explains that he is from the Two Rivers. Loial looks blank and Rand adds that it used to be Manetheren. When Rand mentions Manetheren, Loial says, "We could not come in time." Loial asks Rand what brings him here. Rand tells Loial the whole story, including Trollocs and Fades and even his dreams. Loial names him ta'veren and explains the term. Elder Haman said Loial does not listen, but sometimes he does. He explains that the Pattern bends to make the Web, ta'maral'ailen. The first bending is ta'veren. He also talks about Talents. Loial decides he wants to travel with Rand.

My take:

These two chapters are a bit slow, giving more background information, and foreshadowing that will make sense later.  But still, Robert Jordan does it in an interesting way.  This is the calm right before the storm hits—with seeing Padan Fain, Logain, Elayne, and Elaida in the next few chapters.  This is our chance to catch up on current events; Bunt let us know about Andor's past, and Basel Gill tells us about the political climate in Caemlyn now.

We also learn a bit about Thom's background.  What's interesting to me is that Moiraine and Siuan both wind up with ex-lovers of Morgase.  Isn't that a little strange?  But I also think that Gill's explanation should be a hint that Thom's not dead.  Why would Jordan give us so many details about a character that won't show up again?  And it is very touching how much Gill honors Thom as a friend, and how far he goes out of his way for two country boys who claim to know him.  Or is this another ta'veren swirl?  With Mat and Rand together, they might have gotten help from Elaida herself.  

More ta'veren work: Rand coincidently buying the right-colored wraps for his sword.  It doesn't save him completely when he's taken before the Queen, but it does help him gain access to her in one piece.  

I love the exchange with Loial in chapter 36.  He seems to be the only completely good character.  All the others have faults, and we're shown their faults repeatedly.  But Loial is so pure, and true, and perfect.  He's a good character to have juxtaposed to Rand, especially later in the series as Rand gets more and more insane.  Normally, having a perfect character is frowned upon; we need those flaws to relate to.  But I love how Loial is the embodiment of all that is good in the world.  (And it could be argued that he does have a fault: his long-winded talking.)

We also encounter our first bit of foreshadowing about Rand and his connection to the Aiel.  I really enjoy the humor—especially looking back on it from the end of the series—that Loial thinks Rand's playing some sort of Aiel joke on him.  Is that something an Aiel would really joke about, though?  I don't think they would.  But it's still funny.

Loial also serves as a bit of release for Rand.  He is the first person Rand's able to open up to.  Loail is a catalyst, releasing the pressure Rand had built up over a month of hard traveling.  And it's a good thing he did, too.  This moment is what leads to the Ogier backing Rand in Tarmon Gai'don.  It's a long road to that moment, but befriending Loial is the spark that started the fire.

On that subject, how important are the Ogier to the Last Battle?  Would we have had a different outcome if they had opened the Book of Translations and left the world?  Besides adding their fighting force—and Ogier warriors can be fierce—did they do anything important?

A few fans voiced complains about the Ogier's lackluster entrance in the Last Battle.  In an interview, Brandon Sanderson had this to say:

The way they show up is actually the result of a sequence being cut. Originally, Perrin led an expedition into the Ways to try and close the Waygate in Caemlyn from behind. During this, the Ogier arrived, full of song, to drive off the Black Wind. Unfortunately, this sequence had logistical problems with the rest of the book, and had to be deleted entirely. The biggest casualty of this cut was the Ogier introduction, which didn't work nearly as well in the new sequence as it once had.

If it had gone this way, as planned, I could see the importance of the Ogier being a bit more noticeable.  I would have loved to see the Ogier standing strong against Machin Shin.  It would have been very powerful, showing again, that Ogier are the embodiment of good, of the Light.  It also leads to questions about whether their Song could have killed it, or healed it, or something.  We'll save that for when we actually get to the Ways.

Still, I'd argue that the Ogeir were needed to win the Last Battle.  If they had opened the Book of Translations, I'm sure it would have been a blow against the forces of the Light.  Loial was needed.  His relationship with Rand was needed.  His ability to understand the humans, after being so long Outside, was needed.

I'm going to have to reread A Memory of Light and pinpoint exactly what the Ogier did.  I know there's something we needed in them.  (If you remember, help me out and let me know; it's been nearly two years since I read it last.)

That's all I have to say about these chapters.  Some back-story, some new friends.  And mayhem in the next few chapters.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of Dragonmount's Theory Blog, "WoT If?".  We're continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 33 and 34.

Synopsis, taken from Encyclopaedia-WoT:

Chapter 33, "The Dark Waits"

Rand and Mat are getting a ride from a farmer named Hyam Kinch. Mat's eyes are getting better and Rand seems to be feeling better, although it has not been mentioned yet when he was sick. A group of the Queen's Guard pass by going the other way. Hyam Kinch tells them the Queen's Guard rarely goes further than Breen's Spring. He is surprised that neither Rand nor Mat recognizes them. The farmer finally stops and lets the boys off when he reaches his road home telling them they are two days from Caemlyn. The next village is Carysford. Mat acts suspicious of the farmer as he drops them off.

The time shifts back to the night at The Dancing Cartman. They stagger away from the inn and find some bushes to hide in. They both fall asleep soon. Rand starts dreaming:

He is back at Four Kings. He goes inside The Dancing Cartman. Howal Gode is there, only recognizable from his clothes. His face is charred. Rand realizes Gode is dead. Then Ba'alzamon appears and the two start talking. Ba'alzamon sends Gode away to his fate. His final words to Rand are "You are mine, youngling, alive or dead. The Eye of the World will never serve you. I mark you as mine." A ball of flame explodes in Rand's face.

Rand wakes up and notices Mat is having a nightmare. Rand wakes Mat up. They do not sleep the rest of the night. They start walking at daybreak. They pass through a village and then past that, Alpert Mull gives them a ride in his wagon. Times are so hard he must buy hay from Old Bain. He lets them get off just as he heads off the main road, and gives each of the boys a woolen scarf. At dusk, the boys arrive at Market Sheran. There is only one inn. They go in and are greeted by the innkeeper, Rulan Allwine. Rand and Mat are shocked at the price he is charging. The next day they have breakfast in the common room when a boy comes in and sits at their table. His name is Paitr. Mat figures out that he is a Darkfriend. Paitr tries to get them to wait, but Rand and Mat get up to leave. Paitr then yells out "You won't get away. No matter how strong you are, the Great Lord of the Dark is stronger. The Shadow will swallow you!" An old man inside the inn hears Paitr and Paitr flees. Rand and Mat also leave quickly. They get six rides during that day and they hear rumors about what happened in Market Sheran. One farmer tells them it is the best story he heard since Ackley Farren got drunk. They enter another village (Andor Village 1) and enter The Queen's Man inn. The innkeeper, Master Inlow, at first thinks that they are on their way to Caemlyn to see Logain. Rand and Mat give their spiel to the innkeeper about performing. He gets ready to clear a room for them when Rand gets very ill. The innkeeper lets them go into the stable. Mat goes to find someone to help, but the local midwife, Mother Brune, is out. Rand sleeps fitfully and has nightmares:

    Ba'alzamon and Myrddraal follow him.

    Egwene tells him they are all dead.

    Moiraine tells him only the Aes Sedai can save him from the Dark One.

    Thom asks who will find him first, the Red Ajah or the Black Ajah.

    Lan, Perrin, Marin al'Vere, Bayle Domon, Master Fitch, Min and Tam all seem to blame him for their troubles.

Rand wakes the next day when he hears the door open. There is a woman entering the stable. Rand wakes Mat up. She comes over and asks if Rand is all right. She bends over as if to help Rand and then she lunges toward Mat. She has tried to stab Mat and now her dagger is stuck in a post and Mat now has the ruby dagger up against her throat. Her dagger is blackening the wood around it. Mat prepares to kill her, but Rand convinces him not to. Instead, they lock her up in the tack room. They then leave town. About a mile out of town, Hyam Kinch gives them a ride.

Chapter 34, "The Last Village"

Rand and Mat are a day away from The Queen's Man. It is three nights since Four Kings, two since Market Sheran and one since the Darkfriend woman. They are approaching Carysford. The town is next to the River Cary and there is a bridge over the river. Rand and Mat pass through the village and spent the night in haystacks. The next morning they notice that the road to Caemlyn is filled with people going to see the false Dragon. Merchants and Queen's Guard pass them several times. They pass through two more towns. At the third town (Andor Village 2), which they reach at nighttime, they pause near an inn, the Goose and Crown. At one end is a man on a cart, and at the other end are two other men. One of the two men walks away, and Rand realizes that it is a Fade. The man on the cart is Almen Bunt and the man returning to the inn is Raimun Holdwin, the innkeeper. The two hold a short conversation and it is apparent that Bunt is suspicious of Holdwin. Holdwin says that his "friend" is looking for two young men, one of whom carries a stolen heron-marked blade. Holdwin goes inside his inn. Rand and Mat approach Bunt and ask for a ride to Caemlyn and Bunt agrees.

During the ride, Bunt tells the boys a little about Queen Morgase. She has an Aes Sedai advisor named Elaida. She has a daughter named Elayne and a son named Gawyn. Luc is dead and Tigraine is gone. Taringail Damodred married Morgase. Taringail is also dead. Rand falls to sleep and has nightmares. In one nightmare, Thom tells him, "The Dragon is one with the land; and the land is one with the Dragon." He awakes in the morning, and Bunt tells them that they have arrived at Caemlyn.

My take:

This is the chapter where we get the awkward flashback.  I think if you read from chapter 31 all the way through 34 in one sitting, it wouldn't be as awkward.  Robert Jordan established a liking for this sort of flashback all the way back in chapter 13, "Choices."  As a writing style, it's an interesting tactic: establishing that they wound up at their final destination, then explaining what happened along the way—I think the line is something like "the week-long trip to Barelon was uneventful" then Jordan goes into detail about what happened on all the days.  But, when used through four chapters, it gets a bit difficult to keep everything straight.

Here, chapter 31 starts with the end of chapter 33, with Alpert Mull giving them the scarves.  And on top of that flashback, chapter 33 starts with them riding with Hyam Kinch, then tells how they got to that point.  So, we get a flashback within a flashback.  It's understandable that some find it confusing.  But if you're still having a hard time getting your head around it, the WOT FAQ has a wonderful page that details the timeline of these four chapters.

First, we get the aftermath of Rand channeling the lightning at the Dancing Cartman.  He gets ill a few nights later before they are going to play at an inn.  The innkeeper lets them sleep in the stables.  Rand has a bunch of fever dreams.  But are they from his own mind, based on is own worst thoughts, or can these be influenced by Ba'alzamon?  The most important one being Thom talking about the Red Ajah after him.

We talked last week if Rand might be wondering if he can channel.  We don't really have a good comparison to that sort of situation in our world, so it's hard to find something to use as an analogy.  We see Nynaeve go through that sort of denial earlier.  But it's a hundred times worse for Rand.  Some people think women who can channel are evil; everyone thinks men who can channel are evil.  But could this dream of Thom and the Red Ajah show that Rand's thinking about it?  Or is it another trick from Ba'alzamon, trying to force Rand into his clutches? 

He has to be wondering.  Even if he's not thinking it about himself, he has to wonder why the Dark One would be after them.  He would have to contemplate why Moiraine would be helping him.  He and Mat have a bunch of time on the road together; a lot of time to reflect and think.  He may still be in denial, but I think the thoughts are in his brain at this point, that he might be able to channel.

He also brings up the idea of the Light's luck again.  He thinks, "He really was feeling better, he realized. It was a wonder to get over being sick so fast. More than that, it was a gift of the Light. It has to be the Light. It has to be."  This shows how much he's trying to convince himself that he's fine—and Jordan is trying to signal the readers that there's more than meets the eye going on here.

During the first part of chapter 33—pre-flashback—we find out that the Two Rivers is part of Andor.  We could tell that from the map at the beginning, but this is where it first comes into play in the series.  It seems like such a throw away comment—"Rand wondered what Master al'Vere would say if someone told him the Two Rivers was part of some Queen's Realm. The Queen of Andor, he supposed."—but this idea has such a huge role as the books continue.  We see Perrin struggle with this the most, but Mat and Rand also encounter it.

When the story finally gets back to chronological order, running away from the Dancing Cartman, I love how insecure Mat gets about being left behind.  The dagger from Shadar Logoth has really messed up his mind, for him to even think that Rand would leave him.  The paranoia he feels fuels that—and I've no doubt that Mat would have considered leaving Rand behind at some point if he wasn't so weak himself.  But these are some of my favorite scenes of Mat.  He is so helpless, so dependent on Rand.  After Rand—and I'm assuming Mat—had the dream of Ba'alzamon and Gode, Rand wakes up to find Mat having a nightmare.  When Mat wakes up screaming that Ba'alzamon took his eyes, and weeping against Rand's chest, it's one of the most touching moments between these two characters.  They are young men, trying to be adults, yet here they are so beat down, so broken.  Mat has to be nearly crushed to show so much weakness.

And later in the series when Mat and Rand meet up again, Mat mindlessly does what Rand says.  We see that Perrin maintains a bit of an argumentative nature with Rand—mostly over the treatment of the Aes Sedai—but Mat never shows signs of argument.  I wonder if a part of him, even with the holes in his memories, remembers how much he needed Rand during this part of their journey.  Mat owes Rand so much.

When they meet Paitr in Market Sheran, the boys get a rude awakening about Darkfriends:

After Gode, he knew that Darkfriends did not necessarily have the Dragon's Fang on their foreheads, but except for his clothes this Paitr could have fit right in Emond's Field. Nothing about him hinted at murder and worse. Nobody would have remarked him twice. At least Gode had been ... different.

This is a very good theme within the series, that people are not always what they seem, or that they can be more than what they seem.  It also takes the suspense to another level.  With Trollocs and Fades, you can tell they are monsters.  But with Darkfriends, you don't know who is who until it's too late.

When Mili Skane tries to kill Mat and Rand while Rand's suffering from his reaction to channeling in Four Kings, Mat seems to have no qualms about slitting her throat.  This is quite strange because he also struggles with the weakness of not wanting women to die.  It's only Rand's pleading that keeps Mat from killing the Darkfriend.  Could it be that the ruby-hilted dagger took away that value for a short time?  I can't think of any other explanation. 

And chapter 34 serves little purpose besides backstory.  But, this backstory is very important.  Almen Bunt, who is the same farmer who witnesses Rand's apple miracle in A Memory of Light, blabs the whole night about the politics of Andor.  I love the way Jordan gets all the information into the story, so long before we know it's important.  It may seem like filler, but everything Bunt says is a clue about Rand, his past, and his future.  

We'll have to stop there for today.  But we'll continue next time.  I was hoping we could get to Loial, but he'll have to wait.  Thanks for reading!

Hello, all!  Welcome back to another edition of Dragonmount's Theory Blog, "WoT If?".  After a long summer break, the Theory Blog is back!  We'll pick up where we left off, covering chapters 31 and 32 of The Eye of the World.

Synopsis, taken from Encyclopaedia-WoT:

Chapter 31, "Play for Your Supper"

Rand and Mat travel the road from Whitebridge to Caemlyn. They hide when mounted patrols pass. Rand keeps hoping to see Thom come up from behind. Mat keeps fingering his ruby dagger. They spend their first night out of Whitebridge outside on the ground. They are running out of money and cannot afford to stay at an inn. Rand asks Mat about selling the ruby dagger, but Mat gets angry. They stay at several farms and get some meals in exchange for a few hours work. After several days they arrive at the Grinwell farm and Master Grinwell invites them to stay the night. The eldest daughter is Else Grinwell. She starts flirting with Rand. Mistress Grinwell has yellow hair, which Rand has never seen before. The Grinwells suggest that Rand and Mat play at inns. Mistress Grinwell is suspicious of Rand's intent for her daughter and is happy to see him leave. The next day, at dusk, they enter the village of Arien. There is only one inn, and the innkeeper lets them stay there and have a meal in exchange for them performing. The next morning, Eazil Forney gives them a ride out of town. Rand and Mat continue traveling in this manner for several days and then they arrive at Four Kings.

Chapter 32, "Four Kings in Shadow"

Rand and Mat arrive at Four Kings at dusk. The Caemlyn Road runs through the center of town. It is a rougher town than Rand and Mat are used to. They finally stop at the fourth inn, The Dancing Cartman. Saml Hake is the innkeeper. Jak and Strom are the bouncers. Rand and Mat have to bargain harder for their room and board than they have at any other place. They play for a very rough crowd. They figure out that Saml Hake is going to rob them. They take notice of a noble in the back of the room who is watching them. Rand overhears that he stopped and looked in all the other inns, including the Royal Inn, then came here. Rand steps outside and sees the man's carriage. The man's name is Howal Gode. Rand remembers seeing him in Whitebridge. Eventually all the patrons leave except for Howal Gode, who takes a room there for the night. Rand and Mat are shown to their room. After Saml Hake, Jak and Strom leave their room, Rand and Mat block the door. They try to escape through the window, but find it is nailed shut. Howal Gode comes to their room and tries to enter. Gode tries to get them to surrender. Rand and Mat look outside and see men outside, watching the window. Lightning then strikes their room. The wall with the window has a hole in it. Mat cannot see but he and Rand take their belongings and leave.

My take:

First off, let me apologize for taking such a long summer break.  I was still reading, but unable to get the time to write anything!  I'm sure you all understand.  Second, I apologize for taking my summary from an outside source.  I like to phrase my synopsis in my own words, paying attention to certain things I noticed while reading.  However, Encyclopaedia WoT is such a fantastic source, and all the major facts are there.  Using this is easier on me, which makes it easier to get the writing done. 

Now we can get to the story.  With the last two chapters focusing on Perrin and his conflicts, it's a nice change of pace to see Rand's and Mat's woes.  Perrin's struggles are mostly internal—except the little Whitecloak problem.  With Rand and Mat, all their problems are physical—except the nightmares of Ba'alzamon.  This is a good juxtaposition of emotions.  Both groups are running, but Mat's and Rand's adventure is a bit more reactive; they constantly have the Darkfriends nipping at their feet, forcing them to move on.

I also like the fact that Perrin discovered some inner talents and ran from them, while Rand and Mat are able to use their talents to get meals and rooms at inns.  Obviously talking with wolves and juggling are two very different things, but it shows that Perrin is able to hide his skills, let them go unused because he is afraid of them.  Rand, on the other hand, uses all that he has.   This is very closely related to his attitude once he starts channeling.  He does try to hide from it, at first, but he quickly accepts that it's a tool, and he must use it.  Of course, Rand also gets to the point where he views people and friends in this same light.  And, of course, Perrin wouldn't use people or friends—especially Faile—even when it was the logical thing to do.

Looking at it this way, Rand and Perrin are almost complete opposites.  In literary terms, I think Perrin could be Rand's foil, a character that's used to highlight both their differences.  Only when you look at them side by side do you see how drastic their distinctions are, and how strong their characteristics are.  Despite growing up in the same town and raised on the same values, their innate personalities are nowhere near the same.

And where does Mat play into all of this?  He's just the comic relief.  At least, he is at this point in the story.  He gets more important as the story progresses, but he's not as developed as the other two in this book.  And I don't blame Robert Jordan at all for keeping Mat in the shadows at this point.  That's what makes his rise to stardom in The Shadow Rising all the more interesting and fun.

Actually, Mat does function as more than just the comic relief.  He's a red herring for the one Moiraine is looking for—when he randomly speaks the Old Tongue, we're forced to wonder if the Shadow wants him.  And he also serves as a companion for Rand, aiding in Rand's character growth.  The way Rand reacts to Mat's paranoia, and his blindness, and his weaknesses shows us more about him than about Mat.  Personally, I love the way Rand cares for Mat during the next few chapters (one in particular, we'll talk about next time).  This shows us Rand's true core.  How deeply he loves his friends.  Rand is so tender in these moments, and it's a great contrast to how callused and distant he becomes in later books.

Now, talking about all their troubles, we know that the Darkfriends are drawn to the ruby-hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth.  We'll talk about this more later when we reach the end of the book—remember Aginor's "An old friend, and old enemy" line?  But we can touch on it now.  It's curious that there are men who are so far in the Shadow that they can feel the dagger.  Gode says he can feel it coming off them in waves, that they are already halfway turned to the Shadow.  That's a very creepy thought.  Is the dagger so powerful, or is Gode so evil?  And could you imagine what would have happened if Rand had grabbed the dagger instead of Mat?  For him to be corrupted so much would definitely be a bad thing!

Also, this part of the journey is really teaching Rand and Mat about the real world.  Before, they were pretty sheltered in the Two Rivers.  When the innkeeper means to rob them, I think they learn some important lessons.  Poor country bumpkins need to grow up quickly.

Rand channeling is another main part of chapter 32.  I think it's interesting here that he's beginning to wonder where his luck is coming from.  After the lightning hits the window, he thinks, "Luck. The Light's own ... Is it?"  So even Rand is wondering if it's the Dark One's luck that's helping.  Or could it be that he's wondering about channeling?  Maybe that Mat is channeling?  Or that he is channeling?  It seems odd that he wouldn't notice the signs of the reaction.  But, we see Nynaeve's point of view when Moiraine tells her she can channel, and it's very easy to understand how they could be in denial.  But still, with Darkfriends and worse after them, wouldn't Rand begin to wonder a little?  To look at the weird experiences his body has had over the past two weeks or so?

Maybe.  Maybe not.  But I think we'll stop there for now.  I really like the next few chapters, with Rand's arrival into Caemlyn and the events that follow—especially meeting Loial.  See you next time and thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 29 and 30 this time. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 29, "Eyes Without Pity"

Perrin, Egwene, and Elyas are traveling across the land at a quick, unrelenting pace.  Elyas takes every precaution when making camp, and leaving camp.  As they go, the wolves scout ahead, but Elyas still checks at the tops of each hill.  At one hill, Perrin says he is going to the top with Elyas.  At the top, the land around them is empty and Perrin voices his complaints about how slow they are going.  Then, a large flock of ravens fly out from the trees.  Perrin asks Elyas if that was the reason he was going so slow, and Elyas says he's not sure.

They travel faster now, trying to keep right at the tail end of the flock.  The wolves send word that another flock is coming from behind them.  They will be safe after sundown, but they might not last that long.

The ravens kill for fun.  Perrin and Elyas see the group tear a fox to shreds.  Other animals are left behind, mangled for no reason.  As they are running, Perrin realizes they won't make it till sundown.  The flocks are getting too close.  He wonders if he could spare Egwene the pain of the raven's beaks by killing her with his axe instead. 

Suddenly, they enter a stedding, a place of safety.  Elyas leads them to a watering hole and they set up camp.  Egwene notices a rock that looks like and eye, and Elyas tells them that this was the place Artur Hawkwing was going to build his capital.  He goes into the details of Hawkwing's rise and fall, and the turmoil after.

Chapter 30, "Children of Shadow"

After they eat, Perrin goes down to the pool to be alone.  Elyas follows and confronts Perrin about his thoughts on Egwene.  At first, Elyas comes off forceful, asking if Perrin hates Egwene, and once Perrin confesses his thoughts of killing Egwene before the ravens could, Elyas softens, and tells him Egwene would have rather died by the axe.

Perrin tells Elyas he hates his axe, and he almost throws it into the water before Elyas stops him.  Elyas tells him to keep it until he likes it.  Until then, he will use the axe wiser than any other man. 

The wolves suddenly send a warning that men are coming.  Elyas and Perrin rush to the camp and douse the fire.  Perrin, Egwene, and Bela run off to find a hiding spot.  As they hide, a group of Whitecloaks show up and spot Bela.  They tell the Emond's Fielders to surrender, so Perrin and Egwene do.  As they approach the Whitecloaks, Hopper jumps on the closes one and Perrin, by instinct, grabs his axe and fights the Whitecloaks too.  They kill Hopper, and Perrin is hit on the head by a lance.

He wakes up in a tent.  Egwene is there too.  It's the tent of the Lord Captain Geofram Bornhald, and his underling, Jaret Byar, is with him.  Byar accuses Perrin and Egwene of being Darkfriends.  They tell a version of the truth of how they wound up there, but Bornhald doesn't believe them.  He says Egwene has a chance to repent and come back to the Light, but Perrin killed two of the Children, so he will be killed once they reach Amador.

My take:

As I said last time, this is a heavy Perrin section.  And my love for Perrin grew so much from this part.  When we first start this story, we know Mat is a rascal, and we see most of the story from Rand's point-of-view, so we know a lot about him too.  But we don't get a good grasp of Perrin until these two chapters.  There is so much character development; it is amazing.

But first, I want to talk about Elyas.  He has them moving quickly, knowing something is coming.  Perrin thinks it's the ravens, but Elyas says he wasn't sure.  Then, at the end, with the Whitecloaks, Elyas says, "I was sure it was the ravens." 

So, how did Elyas know they were running from something?  It's curious to think that he experiences wolf dreams like Perrin does.  Once Perrin asks him about it, Elyas tells him to stay away from that place because it is dangerous (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 24, "To Make a Stand"), but Elyas must visit it from time to time.  He's used to wearing the wolf's body we see in A Memory of Light.  I think that Elyas must have seen a vision, one of the windows opening in the sky.  That would warn him of danger, but not necessarily be clear what the danger is.

Also, it's interesting that the raven flock didn't know that Perrin was nearby.  I would assume that the Dream Perrin had in the Tinker camp let Ba'alzamon know where he was—Ba'alzamon had a hard time finding Perrin since the wolves started protecting him.  If the ravens were eyes for the Dark One, how did they not know that Perrin was a target?  Perhaps Ishamael was too weak at this point to control the ravens himself, and they would just be reporting to a random Myrddraal instead of one of the Forsaken?  That's possible. 

Another thing discussesd is how far Elyas and Perrin can sense the wolves.  At this point, Perrin can only feel them a mile away.  Elyas' range is a bit farther, but not too much.  Perrin sees how he struggles to remain in contact with the pack when they are running from the ravens.  Yet, it seems like Perrin's range with wolves grows much larger than that.  When he actually accepts their sendings, they come from miles and miles away.  Of course, it could always be Perrin's ta'veren nature that makes him stronger in this way.

Now on to Perrin.  This scene will still make me cry when I read it.  It's so packed full of emotion.  It's funny to think about—I have a hard time remembering my first reading of the story—but Perrin could have been Robert Jordan's attempt at a red herring, as far as who the Dragon is.  At first, we think it could be Mat, due to his spouting of the Old Tongue.  But here, we get some references to Lews Therin:

Not quite an hour till dark.  If not for the stedding, all of you would be dead now.  Would you have saved her?  Would you have cut her down like so many bushes?  Bushes don't bleed, do they?  Or scream, or look in your eyes and ask, why?

So similar to Lews Therin's, "His children's faces accused him, blank eyes asking why, and his tears were no answer."

And Perrin's internal conflicts are what really make this story so enjoyable and re-readable.  His emotion is so real, that I am effected, even after the ninth time through.

Perrin is such a good, and honorable guy.  Mat is… well, Mat.  Rand becomes corrupted.  But Perrin stays true throughout the whole story.  I love his character so much, just by this book alone, that I didn't falter at all when he lost Faile.  Many readers hate him then, but you have to remember where that love came from.  This is where it formed, his desire to protect in any way possible.  And he loves Faile so much, naturally he would do anything and everything to help her.  He would have done anything and everything to help Egwene, even killing her with his own hands.  It sounds odd, but that is a love so true it makes my heart hurt.

On another emotional note, this is my first re-read after A Memory of Light.  So it's very sad when you get to the scene when Perrin and Egwene are hiding:

“Perrin,” Egwene said softly, “will you dance with me at Sunday? If we're home by then?”

 

His shoulders shook. He made no sound, and he did not know if he was laughing or crying. “I will. I promise.” Against his will his hands tightened on the axe, reminding him that he still held it. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I promise,” he said again, and hoped.

That's one promise he was not able to fulfill.  I wish, just once, they could have had a moment—besides the battle in tel'aran'rhiod fighting Masaana—to talk and see each other again.

That's all for this edition.  I could go on and on about my love for Perrin.  But I won't.  Join us next week for more of the Mat and Rand adventures.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with only chapter 28 this time. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 28, "Footprints in Air"

Nynaeve, Lan, and Moiraine arrive in Whitebridge.  Nynaeve remembers the trip with the Aes Sedai and the Warder up to this point.  The Wisdom has no good thoughts of the Aes Sedai, and is kept out of the planning discussions altogether.  For a brief moment, Nynaeve thinks that Lan would be better without Moiraine, and blushes at the thought.  Still, Lan makes Nynaeve even angrier that the Aes Sedai.

Nynaeve is awed by the White Bridge, and fails to notice the smell of smoke on the air until they see the charred buildings in the square.  There are a dozen different tales about what happened in town—including Darkfriends, or a man using the One Power—but they can confirm that a Gleeman went downriver on one of the boats. 

They stop at an inn—the same one Rand, Mat, and Thom stayed at—and Moiraine announces that two of the boys where here a day or so before.  They will go find the one who is north of them, and still in possession of his coin, since the other two will undoubtedly be heading towards Caemlyn.  Nynaeve says that's good for the boys, but demands what the Aes Sedai means to do to find Egwene.  Moiraine gets angry and tells Nynaeve that she doesn't want to give up on Egwene, but it will be as the Wheel wills.

My take:

The next two chapters (29 and 30) go together, so I want to focus only on chapter 28 this time.  Plus, there is a lot to look at here.  Namely, the relationship between Nynaeve and Moiraine.

So, here's my first question: Moiraine's handling of Nynaeve; is it the right way?  I'll admit that Moiraine is the Aes Sedai and the one in charge, and Nynaeve has a bit of a problem relinquishing her authority, but sometimes I think Moiraine mishandles the situation.  She's manipulating Nynaeve, getting her to feel like a fool.  But think how much more powerful they would have been at the Eye if Nynaeve was a willing ally at that point!  Why would an Aes Sedai want distance between her and anyone who could offer aid?  In normal circumstances, an Aes Sedai would be unlikely to admit they needed aid, but Moiraine knows they are fighting the Dark One, that the world is at stake, that she will need powerful allies. 

To me, it feels so wrong for Moiraine to do this. Why would she spend so much time alienating the Wisdom?  It's something that only a power-hungry person would do, and we know Moiraine isn't power-hungry—or else she wouldn't have worked so hard to avoid being the Queen of Cairhien.  So why do this?  It's petty, even on Moiraine's part.  Why withhold information?  Why treat Nynaeve like she's a pest and beneath her.  And don't spout all that drivel about Aes Sedai thinking they are above everyone.  Moiraine is one of the most worldly Aes Sedai we've met (besides Cadsuane), and she is not that kind of person.  Could it already be the hints of jealousy that she finally admits in The Great Hunt?  She can feel Lan's bond, and must know that those feelings are blooming in there somewhere.  Can this be as simple as a love triangle?

Why else would Lan insist Nynaeve go back home?  He's already concerned for her and her safety.  And his suggestions go against what Moiraine wants—"'She's part of the Pattern, Lan' Moiraine said chidingly."  Lan doesn't do anything contrary to what Moiraine wants unless it's in regard to his love for Nynaeve in the later books.

If women dislike each other from their first meeting, it's most likely that a man is involved.  Moiraine says in The Great Hunt (Chapter 22, "Watchers") that she never had any concerns when Lan took lovers, but that Nynaeve was making him feel again, and for Moiraine, that's a bad thing.  We also know that Lan is very good at fuzzing the bond between him and Moiraine, but some of it might be leaking through—or perhaps Moiraine has learned to read him in other ways since they've been working together for twenty years.  Either way, it seems like Moiriane's acting like a scorned lover to me.

And leading into that, this is also on par to Moiraine's dealings with Rand.  She behaves so badly in regards to him.  She does almost the exact opposite of the right thing when dealing with him.  He's wary of her, and for a reason!  Look at how she handles him—obviously handling him.  Moiraine doesn't have that stupid Aes Sedai arrogance—well, not as much as some—and she should know that different cultures have different ways.  So why treat Rand, so Two-Rivers-stubborn, the way she does?  I can't understand her logic.

Moving on, another interesting thing happens in this chapter with Nynaeve.  She feels something that is similar to her Listening to the Wind Talent: "Something of it tickled the corners of her mind, as when she listened to the wind, but now she knew that that had to do with the One Power, and she could not bring herself to embrace those ripples at the edge of thought."  Later in the series, she can feel the storms gathering, but the emotional storms instead of physical.  Could this be the start of that Talent she acquired?  However, right after that, Moiraine says it is the Dark One that Nynaeve is feeling.  What exactly is it she is able to sense, and how is it similar to her ability to channel?  What would have happened if she had embraced those ripples? 

The Dark One's gaze is strong right now—which is why they're having an abnormally long winter—so how close is he to escaping at this point?  He's messing with the weather and making it so people who can touch the Power can feel him.  That's a pretty strong grasp on the world, I'd say.  However, when Rand uses the Eye of the World, the weather goes back to normal, for a while.  The Dark One's hold on the world loosens up a bit.  How?  Now probably isn't the time to talk about this, but I just wanted to bring it up.  Keep it in the back of your minds, because we'll explore it more when we get to the end of this book.

That's all that I found in this chapter; though it's a lot for only one chapter.  We'll look at the next two chapters—and I'll gush about how much I love Perrin some more—later.  Although this is Rand's story, and he's obviously the main character of this book, I think Perrin is the one who grows the most.  More on that next time.  Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the long delay, and welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  With school coming to a close, things have been busy for me, but summer should give me more time to keep up with the reread.  Today we are continuing with chapters 26 and 27 of The Eye of the World. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 26, "Whitebridge"

Rand, Mat, and Thom are still aboard Spray.  They are heading down to Whitebridge.  Thom is giving one of his gleeman lessons: playing the flute.  Rand has improved on the instrument, but Mat shows little skill.  The sailors on deck laugh at Mat's attempts and it leaves him sour.  Rand reminds Thom that they don't have to try so hard—since once they find Moiraine, they will go to Tar Valon—but Thom doubts the others are still alive.  Rand insists they are.  He looks to Mat for back up, but Mat agrees with Thom, saying they might be dead.

A sailor calls out that Whitebridge is up ahead.  Rand isn't distracted by that, and instead, stares at Mat, shocked he could admit such awful things about their friends.  Mat eventually blushes and looks away.  As they pull towards the harbor, Bayle Domon joins them.  They all marvel at the White Bridge spanning over the river.  Rand thinks they look like glass, but Domon tells him it's not, that it's stronger and never slick.  Thom says it must be from the Age of Legends, but Domon disagrees, saying not everything is Aes Sedai work.  Rand thinks for all his talk of seeing the wonders in the world, Domon is still afraid of Aes Sedai.  As Rand looks at the bridge, he sees a ripple run through the structure.

As they dock, Domon kicks Gleb off the boat, saying he won't work on any vessel again.  Gelb leaves in a hurry.  Mat and Rand gather their things, and Rand scans the crowd at the dock.  He doesn't see Moiraine or Lan.  Thom warns them to keep out of trouble, they don't want anyone remembering they were there.  They get ready to disembark and Domon stops to talk with them.  He offers them money to travel down south with him to Illian.  Rand refuses, but Thom says they will think about it.

They go into town and find an inn at the base of the White Bridge.  They talk with the innkeeper—Thom leading the discussion and trying to weasel out useful information without seeming too interested.  The innkeeper tells them that Logain was defeated as he tried to make for Tear.  Logain will be put on parade to Tar Valon, passing through Caemlyn on the way north.  The innkeeper also says that the Illianers have proclaimed the hunt for the Horn.  This makes Thom stop and think a moment, so Rand tells the innkeeper that they are looking for friends that might have passed through.  Thom describes them and the innkeeper promptly tells them to leave—that a crazy man was asking after the same people, and after that a man in black asked after them too.  Rand knows the man in black was a Myrddraal.

They start to panic a bit—Thom insisting they go south to Illian, Rand saying they needed to go to Caemlyn.  Mat, after a moment, sides with Rand, and tells Thom he can go to Illian if he wants, but they are going on to Caemlyn.  Thom laughs at their ignorance of the world, and of the White Tower, and Mat grips the ruby-hilted dagger menacingly.  Noise from the other side of the common room pulls them up short.

 /p>

Gelb is telling other sailors that Rand, Mat, and Thom are Darkfriends, and that Trollocs are after the three of them.  Thom realizes that Gelb's story will circulate around town, reaching the ears of the Halfman.  They need to go, and quickly.  Thom divides the money between them, and they sneak quietly out of the inn.

Out in the alley, they want to get out of the city without rousing suspicion.  Mat wonders why Thom is helping them, since he'd be safer if he left.  Thom confesses that he had a nephew named Owyn, who was "killed" by Aes Sedai.  He wants to help these boys escape Aes Sedai since he didn't help Owyn.  Rand notices Thom has tears in his eyes as he says it.  He tells the boys to wait, then leaves the alley.  He returns a short time later with different cloaks for the boys to wear.  They are to leave the alley one by one, but always keeping each other in sight.

Out in the open, they spy a Myrddraal across the square.  Thom tells them not to look at its face.  Rand wants to run, but Thom says they will never outrun it.  With a quick growl about wishing he'd never gotten involved, Thom thrusts his flute and harp at Rand.  He tells them to go to the Queen's Blessing, an inn in Caemlyn.  Then he tells them to run.  He yells it over and over as he rushes at the Fade.  He has his daggers out, and they flash blue as they meet the Myrddraal's own blade.  Rand and Mat run, and they hear Thom's screams as they do.  Most of the other townsfolk run too, so it's about a mile out of town before the boys stop running.

Rand stops, but Mat says they have to keep going.  Mat says Thom is dead.  Rand slowly nods, then they get up and start walking towards Caemlyn.

Chapter 27, "Shelter from the Storm"

Perrin, Egwene, and Elyas are still with the band of Tinkers.  Perrin is irked at how slow they are moving, but Elyas doesn't want to leave and push on.  Still, Perrin admires how full of happiness, and music and dance, the Tuatha'an are.  Elyas is uncomfortable around the People, but when Perrin brings up the idea of going their own way, Elyas insists on staying.  Perrin worries about a Fade finding them, and murdering all the Tinkers, but Elays says they need to wait.  Perrin wants to know how he knows, and he says it's just a feeling.  Despite these reassurances, Perrin cannot relax.

One night, the women of the camp do a slow, seductive dance.  Perrin blushes and tries to turn away, but they dance in front of him again.  Because of his embarrassment, they do the same dance every night.  Egwene learns the dance too.  Perrin almost scolds her for it, but thinks better of it.  A bit angrily, he asks her if she's having fun.  She has adopted a new philosophy: whatever will happen will happen, so enjoy the good moments when they are here.  She runs off with Aram, who flashes a triumphant smile at Perrin.

In an act of defiance to the Way of the Leaf, Perrin leaves his cloak open, showing off his axe.  Elyas grins at him, which almost makes it cover it back up, but he doesn't.  He can't comprehend how people can just run from the evils of the world.

Perrin continues to have dreams—but not the ones like before.  They are mostly nightmares, of Fades attacking the Tuatha'an.  And his ability to feel the wolves increases each day.  The wolves are ready to go, and want to get away from the Tinker camp.  Perrin feels the same way, an eagerness to just get it over with, to be on his way to Caemlyn and Moiraine and answers.

In one dream, Perrin is in Mistress Luhhan's kitchen, a wolf at his feet.  The wolf growls, and Ba'alzamon appears.  He scornfully asks if the wolf is Perrin's protection, then sets the animal on fire.  Perrin rushes to try and save it, but as he touches it, it turns to ash.  He yells at Ba'alzamon to leave him alone.  Ba'alzamon mentions the Eye of the World again, that it would consume Perrin.  Ba'alzamon opens his hand towards Perrin and a raven flies out, piercing his left eye.

Perrin wakes up from the nightmare, remembering the agony of the bird's attack.  Elyas is beside him and the wolves are sending images of hatred and fire.  Elyas says it's time to go.  They pack up say their goodbyes to the Tinkers.  Aram tries to convince Egwene to stay, but she refuses.  During the goodbye ceremony Eylas, after a moment of hesitation, completes the parting words which startles Raen and Ila.

As they leave, the wolves keep sending images of the dream Perrin had.  He learns he can shut the wolves out, and determines to never let them back in.

My take:

Sorry for the longwinded synopsis of chapter 26.  There was a lot of information that transpired, a lot character building, but not a lot of things to talk about. 

First, I do wonder if the White Bridge can be, as Doman said, something other than Aes Sedai work.  We assume everything—every marvel—was done with the One Power, but we forget they had pretty advanced technology in the Age of Legends as well.  It's possible that it wasn't made with the One Power.  Is it likely?  No.  But it is possible.  I think it would be neat to speculate on what things in Randland weren't made by Aes Sedai.  The Horn of Valere, for example, was from Ages before the Age of Legends, and definitely wasn't made by Aes Sedai.  We will have to talk about the Horn at a later time—probably somewhere around the end of The Great Hunt—but I do wonder where that came from also.

What about the reputation of Morgase from the innkeeper in Whitebridge.  From early on in this book, we get a lot of positive ideas of Andor's ruling family.  Even those who don't like Aes Sedai—which is mostly everyone—still back Morgase as Queen.  I think this is important later, when Rand meets her.  We have already established that Morgase is kind and just, the common people love her.  So when she lets Rand go, despite the warning from Elaida, it fits in with the character we've heard about.  This is interesting.  We see the first of only a few rulers who are decent people.  The High Lords and Ladies in Tear are awful.  Those in power in Cairhien are almost worse.  In Andor, we have a ruler who does have the common folk's interest at heart.  This is deep in Andor's roots, and deep within the roots of the Two Rivers.  This can be where those characteristics can be traced too.  It also shows us how Elayne grew up to be a great Queen as well.  (On the other hand, can it be as Minnielikes theorizes, that it's just because they are pretty?)

Now, moving on to the tragic part—or so we think.  The first time around, I was convinced Thom was dead.  Moiraine is pretty confident he's alive, but who trusts an Aes Sedai?  Still, this part is such a wonderful scene within the series.  We've only known Thom for a few weeks, and we (and Rand and mostly Mat) trust him.  But Mat does bring up some interesting doubts.  We should be wondering why he's helping them too.  And I'm glad that Mat finally voices those opinions.  Thom's story of Owyn really explains a lot about his motivation, now and later in the series.  This is one of the main forces that drive him.  At this point, his character gets complex.  I love that there are tears in his eyes when he talks about Owyn.  I love that this conflict motivates him so much.  He hasn't gotten over it, even though it's been so long.  It explains so much about the kind of man he is.  He's well traveled and used to be a Court Bard, but family matters, and these boys from a small village matter.

I love Thom from this moment on.

While Mat and Rand have Thom as a sort of mentor figure, I love Perrin's interaction with Elyas for the same reason.  Both older men are world-wise, passing on their knowledge to our poor country bumpkins.  Look at how much experience and growth the ta'veren get because of these men.  And when these men appear again, the poor country boys are the ones in charge.  It's humorous, as only Robert Jordan can do it.

The time in the Tinker camp shows growth for the characters as well.  I really think it's interesting that Egwene has become so logical in her thinking about the future.  Perhaps Moiraine's constant "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills" has seeped into her.  But it's a very grown-up mentality to have, that what will happen will happen, so why worry about it.  This helps later when she takes on the leadership in the Tower.  From such an early age, she is prepared to take the world as it is, and try her hardest to adapt to it.  It's so admirable.  I've never been particularly fond of Egwene until she becomes Amyrlin, but this shows some of the woman she will become.

I've mentioned elsewhere that Brandon Sanderson talked about the possibility of Perrin accepting the Way of the Leaf, and how it would never happen.  And we see it pretty clearly here, his defiant nature, his refusal to take things lying down.  The fact that he openly displays his axe isn't how we'd expect this overly polite boy to act.  This shows us how bold he can get when he believes in a cause (can we say Blue Ajah?).  He gets sidetracked a lot by Faile in the later books, but in his core, he is so strong and determined.  He brings so much to his group of followers because of these traits.  He makes an excellent leader because of these traits.

I still wish he could have found the Way of the Leaf.  Can you imagine how the people of Saldaea would react to a King who followed the Way?  It's so funny to think about!  And what's also interesting to think about is that I never, ever thought Egwene would become a Tuatha'an.  That's strange, isn't it?  Egwene hasn't done anything that's considered "violent," but Perrin has.  Yet he's the one I think would convert of the two.  Why is that?  I have no idea.

Like I said, not much to speculate on.  These chapters moved the plot forward, and hinted a bit, but there's nothing too dramatic to glean from them.  A bit about how they'll grow up, but not much else.  Still, I love taking a look at these early years, and seeing how different the characters are.  They are so young and naive here.  Too trusting of everyone.  They are lucky the Wheel was looking out for them.

That's all for this edition.  Join us next time for the next few chapters of The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 24 and 25. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 24, "Flight Down the Arinelle"

Rand is in a dream, and knows it is a dream.  He wanders around a dark place, with roads that lead directly above him, or to places that seem close at first, then far away.  Ba'alzamon chases him, and Rand wonders if Mat is seeing the same thing—if there are two Ba'alzamons and two mazes, or if Mat is somewhere in the same maze.  Rand continues through the maze and accidently touches a thorn on the wall.  His finger bleeds.  After that, he runs into Ba'alzamon.  Rand shouts that it is a dream, and it changes into something else.

Now, Rand is in a place full of mirrors.  He can see his image thrown back at him, and the image of Ba'alzamon too.  As Rand looks into a mirror, he sees his own face, then it begins to merge with Ba'alazmon's face.  Only one face remains.  Rand wakes up on the Spray, relieved that the dreams are over for one more night, then realizes his finger is bleeding from a pick of a thorn.

Life aboard the Spray has been difficult since the night after Shadar Logoth.  Due to fear of the Shadowspawn, Doman has the crew heading full speed down the river.  Gelb has been trying to convince the other sailors that it was all Rand's fault, but no one listens to him.  Thom warns them that Gelb is harmless, for the time being, but they need to watch out for a mutiny from the crew—they aren't pleased with how hard Doman has been working them.  Thom tries his hardest to distract the crew with his entertainment, as well as teaching Rand and Mat their lessons for the crew's enjoyment.

As they travel, Rand notices artifacts in the quickly passing landscape. They pass through a rent in a cliff that is carved with men and women—kings and queens of an old nation.  He also sees a tall tower seemingly made of metal.  Doman tells him that it looks like steel, but there's not a spot of rust. Doman then tells Rand of all the wonders he's seen.  Of the Panarch's Palace in Tanchico that has the bones of extinct animals, of lightsticks, razorlace, and heartstone.  Doman says the wonders of the world will pull Rand on.  Rand argues, saying he will go home as soon as possible. 

A few days later, Rand has a sort of giddy fit, causing him to climb the ship's mast.  He balances atop the swaying mast, until Thom comes up and asks him to come down.  Rand does, dangling from a rope and swinging down, ending with a bow and a flourish.  As he lands, he realizes that Mat is stroking the ruby hilted dagger they had seen in Shadar Logoth.  Mat insists Moiraine's warning doesn't count because it hadn't been a gift, Mat had just taken it.  Rand says they can sell it if they need the money and Mat reluctantly agrees.  Thom comes over and scolds Rand for his stunt, and Rand realizes what he had been doing atop the mast.  He suddenly feels dizzy.  He wonders what's happening to him, if he might be going mad.

Chapter 25, "The Travelling People"

Perrin, Egwene, and Elyas travel through the wilderness.  Egwene tries to get Elyas to ride Bela as well, but he refuses.  She is unsuccessful at bullying him into doing it, too.  Hopper, Dapple, and Wind appear every so often, but the other wolves are keeping farther away.  Perrin can feel a tickle, and knows the direction they are, but he tires to deny it.  On the plus side, he has not had any dreams of Ba'alzamon since meeting Elyas and the wolves.

After three days, they find a group of Tinkers.  Elyas is known by the Seeker of this band, Raen, and his wife, Ila.  Ila wonders if Elyas' "other friends" would stay away since they frighten the dogs; Elyas impatiently tells her they will.  The group is welcomed to the fires for a meal. 

Raen's and Ila's grandson—Aram—appears and begins to talk to Egwene.  Perrin interrupts, saying how big the dogs are.  Aram sizes him up as competition and says the dogs will not harm Perrin, as they follow the Way of the Leaf.  Egwene asks Aram what it is, and he explains.  Perrin wonders how they could live like that, always afraid and always running.  Raen begins to explain, but Elyas cuts him off, saying he didn't bring Perrin and Egwene there to convert them.  Perrin and Aram have an argument, and Aram takes Egwene to eat with his parents.  Perrin apologizes to Raen and Ila, but they dismiss it offhand. 

After dinner, they sit to smoke their pipes.  Raen tells of a story—passed from Tinker to Tinker—about a band that travelled into the Aiel Waste.  A group of Maidens were attacked, and all but one dead.  It took the last bit of her strength to pass on a message: "Leafblighter means to blind the Eye of the World."  Raen wanted to know if Elyas could tell him what it meant, but he claims not to know.

Egwene comes back and Perrin asks her if she had fun.  He also compares Aram to Wil al'Seen, and notes that Egwene had more sense to fall for Wil's antics.  Abruptly, Egwene throws her arms around Perrin and cries, wanting to know that Rand and the others are still alive.  Awkwardly, Perrin reassures her that they are.  She kisses him on the cheek, then goes to the wagon with Ila.  Perrin wonders how Rand is able to know so much about women when Perrin knows nothing.

My take:

First off, when we see this dream of Rand and Ba'alzamon, it very closely resembles the Ways.  I don't think we've talked about this before.  We know that these dreams most likely take place in a dreamshard of Ishamael's making—giving him more power over the surrounding than just Tel'aran'rhiod would offer.  So, why would he choose the Ways?  It seems a curious place.  The Ways were created after the male channelers had started going insane, so it would be after Ishamael was sealed (or partly sealed) within the Bore.  Would he have been able to access the Ways during his brief periods of freedom?  He must have, or how else would he have known what they look like?  Or is it more likely that although the Ways weren't grown until later, the Talismans of Growing were well-known and studied?  Perhaps Ishamael had even worked on them before the War of Power, and knew, in theory, what the Ways would look like?

This could be an interesting question to pose to Brandon Sanderson or Maria Simons. 

Going back to my "Moridin always knew he was working for the Light" theory, he could be using the Ways as a tool to prepare Rand for later in the book, when they actually use the Ways.  This little bit of experience doesn't do much, but it does get Rand, and possibly Mat and Perrin, used to the idea of the unsettling landscape, and the near-solid darkness (though of course you can't make it dark or light inside Tel'aran'rhiod).  He's giving them help, maybe without even realizing it.  To keep your enemies in ignorance is the best way to beat them, but Ishamael seems to be arming Rand with all the knowledge he'll need to have a victory.

Moving on, another thing we see in this dream is the idea of Rand and Ba'alzamon merging.  I don't know about you, but I am flabbergasted that the foreshadowing of this is all the way back in book one.  And looking at the recent article about Robert Jordan's notes, he might have had this idea all along.  Every time I reread this series, I am struck with how brilliant a writer Robert Jordan was.  And I'm sure there will be other such surprises as we continue through all the books.

Another interesting thing mentioned is the tale of the Aiel Maidens meeting the Tuatha'an.  I particularly like this story because of the conflict it causes.  We know after The Shadow Rising why the Aiel call the Tinkers "Lost Ones."  And the Tinkers, who have no idea of their crimes, are blamed for the sins of their ancestors.  It seems so funny that the Aiel would judge others based on this, when they themselves have abandoned their own oaths to the Way of the Leaf.  It's like the Aiel feel they can call the Tinkers "Lost" only because they quite their charge before the Aiel did.  It's completely illogical.  But I love the dynamic it gives to both factions.

The Tinkers themselves are fascinating.  The Way of the Leaf is an interesting concept, and I wish more could have been done with them throughout the story.  At JordanCon last weekend, Brandon did a panel where he answered all our Wheel of Time questions.  One thing he talked about was how he freaked out Team Jordan, trying to think outside the box in regards to the storylines and characters.  One of these ideas was what would happen if Perrin had eventually found the Way of the Leaf.  Maria, and Harriet McDougal, who were both in attendance at the panel, laughed and agreed that Brandon had freaked them out.  One of them also said that they absolutely refused to let Perrin choose the Way of the Leaf.

Personally, I don't think Perrin could have ever fit in as a follower of the Way of the Leaf.  He believes too much in justice, and sometimes that involves corporeal punishment—I mean, he even spanked Faile once.  But I love thinking of the idea that he could have joined them.  It adds so much depth to his character to know that there was even a chance he could have evolved into a follower of the Way of the Leaf.  If anyone in the story was to convert, it would be him, I think.

Also, with the Aiel story, Raen speaks of men who go alone to kill the Dark One.  Again, very early on, we get a hint of some major events that happen during the Last Battle.  For one, the use of the Samma N'Sei for the Shadow.  This was a huge revelation—though we did think about it once we learned that the Black Tower was turning male channelers already.  We knew since The Great Hunt—and Egwene's test for Accepted—that it's possible to Turn a channeler, but I really don't think I suspected the male Aiel channelers as targets until much later in the series. 

For what we see of them, the Samma N'Sei are scary.  Looking at the Wheel of Time Wikia page for them, it implies they are cannibals.  It also talks about how they are protected from the taint, due to their oaths to the Dark One.  I don't know if there is any evidence for that.  If they were given a barrier—like the Forsaken—why do they act so crazy?  But, maybe now isn't the time to speculate on them.  I do wish we had more information about them, and their culture; hopefully it will be in the Encyclopedia.

I think we will go ahead and end it here, today.  Join us next week for more tales from The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are continuing our reread of The Eye of the World, with chapters 22 and 23. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 22, "A Path Chosen"

Perrin wakes up and it takes a moment for him to remember where he is and what happened the night before.  He decides that if Egwene made it across the river, she would be further down than Perrin.  He sets off to see if he can find her.  He finds hoof prints with Master Luhhan's signature double crossbar, and knows that Bela made it across okay.  He finds Egwene and Bela inside a small clearing—a fire lit in front of them.

Egwene has him sit down and dry off.  They discuss what to do; Egwene wants to wait for Moiraine to find them, Perrin insists that they should keep moving.  Perrin's plan is to cut across the wilderness and bypass Whitebridge, meeting the others in Caemlyn.  Egwene agrees, though Perrin does wonder what will happen if the Aes Sedai isn't in Caemlyn.  They might have to go to Tar Valon on their own.

Egwene has most of her supplies still, so they eat quickly, then begin to walk.

Chapter 23, "Wolfbrother"

As they walk, Perrin struggles with who is the leader between the two of them.  Sometimes, Egwene is ready for him to make the decisions, other times she won't listen.  They travel through the wilderness, not seeing anyone or anything.  They run out of food quickly, and have to resort to hunting.

Perrin catches a rabbit, while Egwene is supposed to light the fire.  When he comes back, the fire isn't lit and he realizes that Egwene was trying to use the Power.  He asks her to stop using it, but she refuses.  

They travel for a few miserable days when they smell smoke in the air.  Perrin goes to investigate and finds a man who is roasting rabbits.  Perrin calls for Egwene and they are both allowed to eat.  The man is Elyas Machera, and he has golden eyes.  Elyas chats with them for awhile before warning them to be still, that his friends are coming.  His friends turn out to be four wolves: Dapple, Hopper, Burn, and Wind.  Elyas says he can talk with them, and that Perrin can talk to them too.

Elyas asks them what they are doing out in the middle of nowhere, and Perrin and Egwene quickly launch into a rehearsed story about being from Saldaea and running away from home.  Elyas knows it all lies, and what's worse, the wolves sensed Trollocs and Halfmen in their thoughts as they told the story.  Elyas demands the truth, hoping they aren't Darkfriends.  The wolves growl threateningly, so Perrin tells the whole story.

After he's finished, Elyas talks about his dislike of Aes Sedai, and how the Red Ajah tried to gentle him—he had to kill a few Warders to escape.  But, he invites Perrin and Egwene to stay with him.  They refuse, but he agrees to travel with them for a while.  

When their plans are settled, Burn angrily stares at Dapple, then runs off into the night.  Elyas says that Burn thinks they are wasting time with Perrin and Egwene, but Dapple runs the pack and she will go with Elyas and the Two Rivers folk.  As Burn leaves, Perrin can feel him go.

My take:

Only a few chapters this time, but I think there's enough her to look at.  Namely, Perrin and his Wolfbrother abilities.  We get a very detailed description of Elyas' gradual awareness of the wolves:

"They found out,” Elyas replied, “I didn't. Not at first. That's always the way of it, I understand. The wolves find you, not you them. Some people thought me touched by the Dark One, because wolves started appearing wherever I went. I suppose I thought so, too, sometimes. Most decent folk began to avoid me, and the ones who sought me out weren't the kind I wanted to know, one way or another. Then I noticed there were times when the wolves seemed to know what I was thinking, to respond to what was in my head. That was the real beginning. They were curious about me. Wolves can sense people, usually, but not like this. They were glad to find me. They say it's been a long time since they hunted with men, and when they say a long time, the feeling I get is like a cold wind howling all the way down from the First Day."

From the sound of this, it was very gradual.  And when we hear of Noam later (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 8, "Jarra"), his transformation also seems to have happened slowly.  Yet, here is Perrin, being told he can talk to wolves, and after just an hour or two, he can feel the wolves.  He also puts a name to Hopper, and then wonders how he did it.

But, maybe it didn't happen so quickly.  What if the wolves had been tracking Perrin for a while?  In chapter 1, we learned that there are more wolves in the Two Rivers than before. 

"An Empty Road"

 

Winter had been bad enough on the farms, worse than even the oldest folk remembered, but it must have been harsher still in the mountains, if the number of wolves driven down into the Two Rivers was any guide. Wolves raided the sheep pens and chewed their way into barns to get the cattle and horses.

Those wolves might have been able to sense Perrin already.  We have no contextual proof, but they could have been lurking near Perrin.  Perrin might have been exposed to the Wolfbrother bonds already.  I am certain that if Perrin hadn't left the Two Rivers, he still would have been turned into a Wolfbrother—probably just not as quickly.

There's also a phrase Perrin uses, when we get his first point-of-view chapter.  When he see's Master Luhhan's double crossbar horseshoe tracks, he is able to follow the trail using his "sharp vision."  However, later in the book, Rand wonders about Perrin's vision:

Chapter 46, "Fal Dara"

 

Rand glanced sideways at Perrin, trying not to stare. His eyes were sharper than Perrin's — or had been, when they used to hunt rabbits together — but he had not been able to see that scythe-blade well enough to make out any rust.

So, Perrin thinks of his eyes as sharp, but Rand thinks of Perrin's eyes as weak.  Or, had the transformation already taken place before they left the Two Rivers, and Rand had never been around to see it?  He's been on the farm for a while—only coming to Emond's Field rarely—so Perrin's abilities could have increased without Rand noticing.  In fact, as quiet as Perrin seems to be, it's not something he would likely tell others about, or maybe he didn't even notice it himself.

Of course, the other explanation is that Perrin's ta'veren nature sped up the Wolfbrother skills.  This is likely, as well, but too much of a convenience.  I'd like to think that not everything in the story happens because of the ta'veren.  But, it's possible. 

Another thing about Perrin is that he already balks at being the leader.  Many readers complain about how he drags his feet when he's put in charge of the Mayeners and the Ghealdanin, but it was in his character all along.  That was the way Perrin would have acted—we can see the beginnings of it here.  

Also, why are so many Talents (including Wolfbrother abilities) connected to the sealing of the Bore?  Elyas says:

"This is an old thing, boy. Older than Aes Sedai. Older than anybody using the One Power. Old as humankind. Old as wolves. They don't like that either, Aes Sedai. Old things coming again. I'm not the only one. There are other things, other folk. Makes Aes Sedai nervous, makes them mutter about ancient barriers weakening. Things are breaking apart, they say. They're afraid the Dark One will get loose, is what."

With the weakening of the Seals, all these Talents come back.  It isn't a link to the Dark One, right?  It's more that the world will need these abilities for the hard times ahead.  Or is it that since the Dark One was locked up, the Pattern, to compensate for the loss of so much evil, had to remove some of the forces of good?

And what other Talents has the world lost?  Hurin's sniffer abilities?  Min's viewings?  These do seem to be forces of the Light, which would need to increase as the Shadow's influence was increasing as well.  I think that's what makes the most sense.

I did get a bit sidetracked on the talk of Talents and Seals, but it's all in good fun.  I think we'll have to stop there.  Next time, we'll get to see Rand and Mat sneaking downriver on The Spray.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  Sorry for the long delay, but we are getting back to the story now, reading chapters 19 - 21 of The Eye of the World. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 19, "Shadow's Waiting"

The group enters Shadar Logoth, a city full of ruins.  They pick out a building and make a place to rest inside, with the horses being stabled in a back room.  Thom, Rand, Mat, and Perrin take the horses and brush and feed them.  Thom goes to smoke his pipe, and Mat convinces Rand and Perrin to go exploring.

In their wanderings, a man calls out to them from the shadows of a building.  He says his name is Mordeth and he asks the boys to help him carry treasure.  Mat rushes after the man, and Perrin and Rand reluctantly follow.  Inside the building is a big pile of gold.  They mention that the others could come help and Mordeth questions them.  When Mat answers that they are going to Tar Valon, Mordeth grows angry.  Rand suddenly realizes that Mordeth doesn't have a shadow.  Mordeth inflates, cutting off half the room.  Mordeth shrieks and curses the boys, then stretching out like smoke, he disappears into a hole in the wall.

The boys run from the room, out of the building, and into the fading sunlight.  From the shadows around them, they feel watching eyes.  They rush back to Moiraine and the others.  Nynaeve scolds them, but Moiraine asks them what happened.  They explain about Mordeth.  Moiraine hisses and makes sure that Mordeth didn't touch them, and that they didn't take anything from him.  Rand says they didn't. Moiraine explains that Mordeth was an advisor to the king of Aridhol during the Trolloc Wars.  Mordeth corrupted the king with his words, and soon the whole city was using means as evil as the Shadow to hunt the Shadow.  Everyone in Aridhol was consumed and Mashadar—the evil power born of their hate and suspicion—was born.  Mashadar still lurks in the city, and Mordeth too.

They all try to sleep.  Sometime later, Lan returns from scouting and tells Moiraine that Trollocs and Myrddraal are in the city.  He wonders what could have forced the Myrddraal in.  The group decides to leave and make for the river—hoping for a boat to give them passage.

Chapter 20, "Dust on the Wind"

The group heads out on their horses.  Rand notices he and the others are falling behind the Warder and Aes Sedai.  He quickens his step, but Moiraine tells him to stop.  A think tendril of Mashadar has blocked the path.  Moiraine tells them to follow the red star east and meet up at the river.  Rand is the first to move, so everyone follows him.

Rand and company run into a group of Trollocs and everyone scatters.  Rand runs through the streets alone, pursued by Trollocs and a Fade.  The Shadowspawn get caught by Mashadar, and Rand continues on.  He runs into Mat and they leave through a city gate.  Outside the walls, Thom rides by and yells them to run.  Rand does, but worries about Egwene.

Perrin sits by a city gate, weighing his options.  Egwene appears on the other end of the square and they leave together.  Outside, a Trolloc horn sounds behind them, and they race ahead.  Bela is slowing down, and Perrin yells at her to hurry.  Suddenly, he and his horse fall off a cliff into the river.  He takes off his cloak to keep from being pulled under, but won't take off his axe.  He finally makes it to the opposite shore.

Rand, Mat, and Thom are trying to find the red star to lead them to the river.  When they finally spot it, they head off in that direction.  Trollocs appears behind them and Mat kills some with arrows.  Thom kills some with his throwing knives.  As they approach the river, they see a lantern on a boat.  With more Trollocs behind them, they board the boat quickly. 

As they do so, Rand accidently steps on Floran Gelb, the night watchman on the ship.  A Trolloc manages to knock Rand down and get aboard the ship.  As Rand thinks his luck is up, a boom comes loose and throws the Trolloc overboard.

The captain of the ship, Bayle Domon, appears and demands to know what happened. Gelb says that Rand attacked him, and that Rand was in league with the Shadowspawn.  Domon disagrees, saying that the Trollocs have followed him.  The captain takes Rand, Mat, and Thom below and wants to know how they came to be in Shadar Logoth.  Thom tells a fanciful story, which Domon seems to believe.  They arrange a price for their passage—Rand and Mat giving away the coins Moiraine gave them.  Thom asks Domon about the Trollocs following him, and Domon says they've chased the boat since Saldaea.

After leaving the captain's cabin, Thom berates the boys for giving away so much money.  He says he could have given them songs and entertainment as their fee.  Mat doesn't think so, and Rand is only worried about Egwene.

Chapter 21, "Listen to the Wind"

Nynaeve wakes up alone.  She and her horse head down river, trying to read the tracks, but she is unable to read them clearly.  She remembers that the night before Trollocs had chased her, but when they caught her scent, they stopped.  They knew the smells of those they want.

She smells fire, and tying her horse up, sneaks close to the camp.  It's Lan and Moiraine.  She listens to their conversation.  Lan wonders how so many Trollocs came there so quickly, and where they all went to—only a small group heads towards Whitebridge.  Moiraine tells him that one boy is alive across the river, and the other two had given away their coins.  Lan wonders if the Shadowspawn heading towards Whitebridge had them, and Moiriane refuses to accept that.  She will expect opposition from other Aes Sedai, and the Amyrlin, but—she realizes Nynaeve is hiding in the bushes and calls her out.

Nynaeve demands to know what she is scheming.  Instead of answering, Moiraine says that Nynaeve can learn to channel.  Moiraine goes into detail about the experiences Nynaeve had when she first touched the Source, and that she must have Healed either Egwene or Perrin.  Nynaeve tires to deny it, but the evidence is too strong.  She asks Moiraine not to repeat any of this.  Nynaeve still demands to know what Moiraine wants with the boys.  Moiraine says that she will not let the Dark One have what he wants.

Nynaeve says she will come with, and Lan goes off to fetch her horse.  Nynaeve questions Moiraine about which boys they are going after, and why they don't try to find Egwene.  Moiraine says the boys are the most important at the moment.  Nynaeve is filled with sorrow, thinking that she is forced to pick between which of the children to rescue.  Lan comes back with her horse, and she gets angry at him for seeing her cry.  They set off, and Nynaeve realizes that if she can channel, she can use the Power against Moiraine.

My Take:

I think this will be a Nynaeve heavy post.  I've made no attempt to hide my love for Nynaeve, though I know others don't find her nearly as enduring.  Despite her annoying tendencies, she is a strong and capable woman, with a big heart and a desire to help and heal everyone.  But, I'm getting ahead of myself.  We'll get into more about Nynaeve in just a bit.

First, I want to look at what Thom says about Mat's speaking of the Old Tongue.  He tells the boys that the "dead can be reborn, or take a human body, and it is not something to speak of lightly."  This is curious to me, because we know all people are reborn in the Pattern, but we don't yet know about the Dark One's abilities to put a dead person back into a human body.  In fact, I don't think the Dark One has had the access to the world to do that in a very long time.  How would Thom know about this dreadful power?  Just through old stories passed down?  Very curious.

I'm also a little fuzzy on the connection—at this point in time—between Mordeth and Mashadar.  Mordeth was a corrupt man, who bewitched the King of Aridhol into using evil methods.  For this corruption, Mashadar was formed.  Yet the two are separate beings.  Mordeth has some of the same abilities, like the tendrils of smoke, but Mashadar is a mindless parasite (almost like the Machin Shin).  But Mordeth must have some unnatural powers from Mashadar, or else how could he still be alive to haunt the ruins of Shadar Logoth?  So is there a connection at all? 

Doing a search on Theoryland's wonderful interview database doesn't pull up a single question asking about the two of them together.  There's Mashadar and Fain, and there's Mordeth and Fain, but not Mashadar and Mordeth.  This is very odd to me.  It seems they would logically be grouped together, both being the last citizens of a dead city.  We'll find out more about the connection with Fain later, but I'm still left wondering about other two.  Perhaps one rules the days and the other the nights?

And when Rand, Mat, and Perrin come back from their encounter with Mordeth, Nynaeve scolds them so fiercely, stating that, "Lan is out looking for you now, and you'll be luckier than you deserve if he does not pound some sense into the lot of you when he gets back."  All I can hear when she says this is, "Wait until your father gets home!"  They're not married yet, but Nynaeve sure acts like it.  This makes me giggle each time I read it.

And so we move onto the Nynaeve bits.  I think Moiraine confronting her about her channeling is one of the best-written scenes in the series.  It seems so inconsequential at the time, at least to us.  For Nynaeve, it's a life changer.  She goes from being a respect woman, to having a terrible secret, one she never wants anyone to find out.  This changes her drastically.  We learn a lot of her personality here.  When Moiraine is describing the first unconscious channeling, she says, that there was something that Nynaeve "wanted more than anything else in the world."  And what was that?  Healing Egwene.  We see later that Moiraine's first channeling was to eavesdrop.  Most Wilders in the Tower had similarly selfish desires.  Nynaeve only wanted Egwene to get better. 

And before you argue that Rand used his first channeling to save Egwene too, look at the details between them.  Rand has believed for the past six or eight years that he's going to marry Egwene.  Nynaeve just babysat her on occasion.  Rand has a deep love for Egwene at this point.  Nynaeve had no special connection, probably no more than to any of the other village children.  That takes someone with a very pure and noble heart to have that be their top concern.  She didn't want a pretty dress, or her father to buy her things, she only wanted people to get better.

This scene is also wonderful in the way it parallels Rand's own channeling experiences.  This is the work of master storyteller Robert Jordan once again.  We are so caught up in the experience as it relates to Nynaeve that we overlook the same things happening to Rand.  It's so simple, and staring us straight in the face, but it's easy to overlook.  It's clever and really gives a great reveal at the end when we are able to put all the pieces together.

It's interesting that we meet Bayle Domon so early in the series.  He's so easy to dismiss, but he does wind up playing a more important role later.  And it's not obvious now, but we do learn later that the Trollocs actually are following him because he has one of the Seals to the Dark One's prison.  Too bad Rand didn't know more about his true self and his goals by this time.  It might have saved him some trouble.

And there's one last thing I question about these three chapters, why does Moiraine expect opposition from the Amyrlin?  She says, "Opposition from within the White Tower, even from the Amyrlin Seat, I accept. There are always Aes Sedai who will accept only one solution."  The one solution is Gentling Rand, and I do believe many Aes Sedai insisted on that course—even Verin hints towards that in The Great Hunt.  And other Aes Sedai do doubt her, and fight her.  But why would Siuan?  They've been plotting this for the past twenty years.  There's no way Siuan would go against her in any fashion.  The only answer I have is that she suspects that Siuan won't be Amyrlin for much longer.

That's all I've got for today.  With this first switch in point-of-views, the story really picks up the pace!  Join us next time for the next few chapters of The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 17 - 18. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis:

Chapter 17, "Watchers and Hunters"

After speaking with Nynaeve, Rand heads to the common room to listen to Thom perform.  He sits beside Mat and Perrin, listening to stories of The Great Hunt of the Horn.  After a few stories, Thom plays his harp, and everyone dances.  While dancing, Rand notices a man with a scar starring at him from across the room.  He tries to forget the man, and succeeds when Nynaeve spins into his arms as his next partner.  He stumbles over the steps, nervous to be dancing with the Wisdom.  She laughs at him good-naturedly, then goes to her next partner.  Moiraine appears next and Rand dances worse with her than with Nynaeve.  Moiraine gives him a sympathetic smile which makes him feel worse.  He recovers some dignity when he dances with Egwene, since he's used to dancing with her.  She looks on the point of saying something, but doesn't.  He refuses to be the person to speak first.

After the dance, Rand sits to let Mat have a turn.  Perrin asks if Rand danced with Nynaeve.  Rand says he did, and with Moiraine too.  Perrin wonders why Nynaeve never danced at home; Rand wonders what the Women's Circle would say if the Wisdom did dance.

Around midnight, they go to their rooms.  On the way up, Rand decides he'd like a glass of milk before bed.  Lan warns him to be careful, since something is wrong.  In the deserted hallway, a Fade appears and tells Rand he will let him live, if he will tell where the others are.  Rand is unable to speak and backs up against the wall.  The Halfman pulls his sword and begins to swing it at Rand, but then stops.  He says Rand belongs to the Dark One, then he disappears.  Lan arrives with his sword out, and Rand tells him the Fade just left.  They rush upstairs to collect their belongings.  Rand is surprised that Nynaeve is coming too.  He realizes Min was right, that Nynaeve is a part of it.

Moiraine tells Master Fitch, the innkeeper, to cooperate with anyone asking about them, but he refuses.  In the stableyard, Rand sees that Egwene is really frightened.  He apologizes to her, and she squeezes his hand.  They leave the inn and head for the Caemlyn Gate. 

The Watchmen at the gate refuse to open the way.  Lan tells them that it isn't against the rules to let people out after dark, only to let them in.  They begin to open the gate when five Whitecloaks appear.  The wonder who would want to leave in the night, and Lan tells them to mind their own business.  Rand recognizes the man speaking as Bornhald, the Whitecloak he had confronted earlier.  Bornhald recognizes Rand and accuses him of being a Darkfriend. 

Moiraine uses the Power to make herself grow taller.  Bornhald attacks her with a sword.  She meets it with her staff, and his sword is bent at an angle from the impact.  Lan leads the group through the gate, and before it closes, Moiraine's huge form steps over the wall.  On the other side, she's normal sized again.

They begin to ride east, when they notice smoke rising above Baerlon.  Moiraine knows that it is the Stag and Lion.  She warned Master Fitch but he did not listen.  However, she points out that if the Shadow's attention was on the inn, their escape may have gone unnoticed.  Nynaeve accuses the Aes Sedai of the harm that came to Master Fitch and the inn, and Moiraine calmly explains it was the only option.  She says she will send him aid that can't be linked to Tar Valon—anything more would only bring him danger. 

They make camp off the side of the road for an hour.  Perrin insists that Moiraine should have done something to help.  Just before dawn, they pack up and head down the road.

Chapter 18, "The Caemlyn Road"

The group travels the Caemlyn Road without incident for three days.  On the third day, they hear horns no more than ten miles behind them.  Lan goes to scout their pursuers—Moiraine whispers as he leaves, "The Light go with you, last Lord of the Seven Towers"—and then she leads the group forwards.  The Emond's Fielders wonder why they don't run, and the Aes Sedai tells them the horns are meant to frighten them and make them rush into a trap. 

Lan returns and tells them that there are three or five fists of Trollocs behind them, each with a Halfman.  They continue forward, then hear horns from ahead and behind.  They head north, off the road.  Lan suggests they go someplace Trollocs won't look, but Moiraine refuses. 

They set a hard pace north, but they are unable to outrun the Trolloc scouts.  Lan has them stop and face the group that is following.  Lan attacks the Fade, shouting out a Malkieri warcry, and the Emond's Fielders do likewise, raising calls of Manetheren, and charge at the Trollocs.  Moiraine lashes out with the One Power, and Nynaeve and Egwene have belt knives.

Rand, Mat, and Perrin fight the Trollocs until Lan kills the Fade.  This kills the Trollocs as well, since they were linked to the Myrddraal.  This buys them a few moments, so they quickly continue heading north.  The next wave of Shadowspawn catches up to them, and Moiraine uses her angreal to use waves of Earth and a wall of Fire to slow them down.  This drained much of her energy.  The group races off again.

Nynaeve gives Moiraine a packet of herbs, and helps to hold the Aes Sedai steady in her saddle.  Further away, Lan calls a halt, and he and Moiraine go off to talk alone.  As they argue, Egwene asks what Mat had shouted when they charged the Trollocs.  Moiraine says he spoke the ancient battle cry of Manetheren, and its last king.  For a moment, Rand thinks that would mean Mat is the one the Dark One wants; he immediately feels guilty for this thought.

Moiraine uses one last weave to send their scent and tracks in a different direction.  They ride north until they come to the ruins of a city.  Moiraine tells them it was once Aridhol, but now it is known as Shadar Logoth.

My take:

For just two chapters, there's a lot that happens.  First, this starts the long and grueling rivalry between Moiraine and Nynaeve.  It's very petty—even though I love Nynaeve as a character.  Although, from her point of view, she's used to being in charge of everyone and everything in the Two Rivers, so obviously she would see Moiraine as a threat to her position.  Still, that doesn't make her right, as we quickly learn as the series progresses.

I think it's funny that Nynaeve and Moiraine join in the dancing in the common room.  Our experience with Aes Sedai later in the story shows us that Aes Sedai are women—especially the Greens—and are capable of enjoying things like dancing.  However, it must have been a shock for our ta'veren.  And it's also kind of sad how Nynaeve wouldn't be able to join in festivals back home.  She knows how to dance—she's not the one fumbling the steps—so that must mean she would have liked to do it, but it would be scandalous if she did.  Nynaeve has a lot of responsibility in the Two Rivers, but she is still just a young woman.  Look at how much she missed out.  If she never left, she wouldn't have married, for one thing.  I think this is a theme that reoccurs within the series, one that talks about the price you pay, or the sacrifices you give, when you are in charge.

This is nothing new, but I still want to point it out.  When Rand sees the Fade in the hallway, the Fade smiles.  We know that Fade's don't smile.  So, this is a clear indication that this Fade is Shaidar Haran.  Robert Jordan did confirm this in an interview (the Week 23 Question).  Or at least, an early version of Shaidar Haran.

The point I want to make about the smiling Myrddraal is this: why did he give away his presence?  He showed himself, revealing to Lan that the Shadow knew their whereabouts, causing the group to flee the city and escape the Shadow's clutches.  Again.  Before A Memory of Light came out, I was a big advocate of Moridin being a double agent.  Why?  Because of stuff like this.  The Shadow's agents bungle their own plans so spectacularly that it seems they are working for the Light.

Along those same lines, I have a slight tangent to go off on.  Before Winter Break, a colleague of mine saw me reading my copy of The Eye of the World—I've been carrying it around with me everywhere to sneak in reading whenever I can.  She hadn't heard of it, and was looking for something to read over the break.  She said she'd get it.  For the past month and a half, she's been enjoying The Eye of the World.  Whenever I pass her, she always says things like, "Rand and Mat just got on a boat," or "Perrin was able to meet up with Egwene," or "They just got captured by the Whitecloaks."  It's so exciting to see someone reading the series for the first time.  And she's very perceptive about picking up a lot of the foreshadowing.

But, there was one thing she missed completely, which is why I'm brining it up now.  When the group escaped from Baerlon, she confided in me that either Moiraine or Nynaeve was evil and letting the Shadow know their whereabouts.  And I thought about it for a moment, and realized how easy it is to come to that conclusion.  As I've said before, it's hard for me to recall what I thought on my first read through.  But I'm sure I thought something likewise. 

Robert Jordan once again shows his masterful storytelling skills.  If Nynaeve hadn't arrived at the Stag and Lion, we would have pondered about who else could have led the Shadowspawn to their location.  We would have known instantly that it was Fain.  But with Nynaeve serving as a decoy to distract us, Fain's participation in Shadow's deeds goes unnoticed.  At least for now.  Just thinking about that, and the intricacy needed to fool the reader so completely, leaves me in awe of Mr. Jordan once again.

And back on track.  With Shaidar Haran in the hallway, why didn't the Myrddraal kill Rand?  He drew back his sword, but stopped.  Is it an elaborate act to scare the farmboy?  The Shadow doesn't know that Rand is the one yet.  Or, at least Ba'alzamon doesn't know which is which.  Would Shaidar Haran—the Dark One's avatar in the world—be able to tell?  He doesn't seem to.  In fact, he's more interested in the others than in Rand.  But why almost kill the boy, then stop?  For dramatic flair?  Perhaps.  Most likely, I think the Dark One is unsure about the three boys.  Since it doesn't know who is who, it could be a huge mistake to kill one of them.  And despite his boasting, I don't think the Dark One could have them in death.

Another point to emphasis in this section is how naive the Two Rivers folk are.  When Nynaeve accuses Moiraine of bringing harm to the innkeeper, she's completely off base.  And the fact that the others agree—Perrin insists that Moiraine should have done something—shows how soft and trusting they are.  It's good that the characters start out this way.  These wholesome roots are what allow Rand to come back from the edge of the abyss.  And it's what makes the characters' growth so appealing.  They are so innocent!  And the world around them eats them up and spits them out by the end of the first book, let alone the end of the series.  Look how far each of them has come since these humble beginnings.  And seeing the transformation first hand lets us, the readers, feel so much closer to them.

In Chapter 18, we have Mat's first use of the Old Tongue.  And notice that only Egwene feels like she should understand the words.  I've always thought Nynaeve might be Eldrene reborn, so it would make sense if she understood.  But why Egwene?  And it's easy to see why Mat was the one to start spouting it in the first place.  We will see as our reread continues that Mat's past memories appear before his trip to the Eelfinn, so there is a strong possibility that one of Mat's former lives resurfaced here too.

And speaking of Mat, there's a brief foreshadowing of his hanging in this chapter.  After fighting the Trollocs, Mat was the only rider to get pulled off his horse.  Afterwards, he "tossed a noose away from him with a shudder, gathered his bow, and scrambled into his saddle unaided, though rubbing at his throat."  Later, I'll point out the foreshadowing of him losing his eye.  It's incredible how much future information we can gather off this first book!

That's all I've got for this week.  Let me know if there's something I missed, or something we need to discuss further.  Join us next time for a trip into Shadar Logoth.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 14 - 16. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis:

Chapter 14, "The Stag and Lion"

The innkeeper—Master Fitch—takes the company further into the inn.  He talks about things going on in the city, about the miners come down from the mountains and the town being full.  Lan goes off to the common room to see what can be learned.  Moiraine asks Master Fitch about the Whitecloaks in the city.  The innkeeper says they are only making trouble for the Governor.  Moiraine asks after Min, but then Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Thom are lead off to the men's baths.

As they are getting clean, Mat almost lets slip about Trollocs to the bath attendant.  Lan comes in and quickly dismisses the attendant and berates Mat for not holding his tongue.  They are not supposed to even think about Trollocs.  Perrin asks about Trollocs in Saldaea and Lan yells at them again.

When they leave the bath, Rand sees Moiraine talking to a young woman with short hair, and dressed in a man's coat and breeches.  They go to a private dining room.  Rand has realized how they can trust no one but themselves, and tries to make up with Egwene; she turns her back on him and he swallows his apology.  After Master Fitch brings them dinner, Moiraine asks Lan what news he has.  Lan says there was a battle in Ghealdan—but he couldn't find out if the Aes Sedai involved were killed, captured, or alive.  There also doesn't seem to be Myrddraal or Trollocs around the city.  Moiraine says they will spend two nights at the Stag and Lion then leave the next morning.  The Emond's Fielders are pleased with this prospect.

Rand is sharing a room with Lan and Thom.  Despite the excitement of the common room, Rand lays down in bed and goes to sleep.

He wakes up in a stone corridor.  He walks for some time, with no change in his surroundings.  He tries to open a door and enters a room with a balcony that exposes a sky with swirling clouds of black, and gray, and red, and orange—no natural sky.  The stones of the fireplace seem to be made of people's faces, streaming in agony.  There is a mirror on the wall, and Rand's image is distorted and fuzzy.

Suddenly, there is a man standing in the room in front of the fireplace.  He is good-looking and dressed in dark, fine clothes.  The man greets Rand, and when he does, the man's eyes and mouth become open furnaces filled with flames.  Rand screams and runs from the room, falling into the room opposite.  The man stands in front of the fireplace in the second room too.  Rand tries to leave, but the corridor is gone.  The door closes, locking him in the room.

The man tells Rand that he must be thirsty, and he can drink from the goblet on the table.  Rand reaches for it and lifts it to his mouth, then thinks better of it.  He refuses, and the man is obviously displeased.  Rand asks the man what he wants, and who he is.  The man answers, "Some call me Ba'alzamon."  Rand frantically tires to flee from the room, because Ba'alzamon is another name for the Dark One.

Ba'alzamon asks if Rand is the one, and says that Rand can never hide from him.  Does Rand expect power and glory?  Does Rand expect the Eye of the World to serve him?  Ba'alzamon says the White Tower would use Rand, that the Aes Sedai have manipulated him like a puppet, leading his father like a stallion and his mother a brood mare.  He says Rand will be used like Davian, Yurian Stonebow, Guaire Amalasan, Raolin Darksbane, and Logain.

Rand shouts the Ba'alzamon is sealed with the Forsaken, forever.  Ba'alzamon says he was never bound.  That he told Lews Therin to kill his family, that he shattered the Second Covenant, that he caused Artur Hawkwing to doom his own empire.  Rand denounces the whole event as a dream.  Ba'alzamon laughs at him and breaks the back of a rat on the table.  He then points a finger at Rand, and Rand's back begins to bend.

Rand wakes up from the nightmare and wonders if Moiraine could help keep them away.  He scoffs at himself, realizing bad dreams are better than the Aes Sedai's help.

Chapter 15, "Strangers and Friends"

Rand wakes the next morning alone in his room.  Lan and Thom are already out.  He had more dreams but can't remember any but the first.  He goes downstairs for breakfast.  The cook gives him something to eat, and begins to explain that a dozen rats were found with their backs broken.  After he's done eating, he goes to find Thom, and ask advice.  Thom is busy in the common room, so Rand goes up to Perrin's room.  Perrin isn't feeling well, and hasn't left the inn.  Rand asks Perrin if he had the same dream; he has.  They conclude that Mat must have, as well.  Rand tries to cheer Perrin up, but is unable to do so.  Rand leaves the inn to explore the city.

Out on the street, Rand is overcome by the press of the crowd.  He sits off to the side of the road in front of the inn, trying to clear his head.  He has a headache.  Min arrives and makes fun of him a bit.  She tells him she knows about Moiraine, and that she sees "pieces of the Pattern."  Rand asks what she sees around their group.  Min mostly sees sparks battling a great shadow.  She explains some of the things she saw around Egwene, Thom, Lan, Perrin, and Mat.  Rand finally asks her what she sees around him.  Min says a few things, which don't make sense to her or Rand, but she says she will see him again.  Frightened by her, Rand runs off into the city.

Rand looks around the city, and is surprised at how the people don't look any different from back home.  He sees Padan Fain and chases the peddler down.  He tells Fain that everyone thought he was dead.  Fain says the Trollocs burned his wagon and he couldn't get to his horses.  Rand tells him they are staying at the Stag and Lion, and that Moiraine could help.  Afraid of Moiraine, Fain runs off and Rand pursues.  He bumps into Mat.  Rand asks Mat if he had the same dream of Ba'alzamon; Mat has.  Mat says they can ask Thom for advice, but not to tell Moiraine.  As they're returning to the inn, Rand tells Mat about the things Min can see. 

Suddenly, Mat points out three Whitecloaks walking down the street.  Mat disappears into a shop and uses his sling to make barrels fall off a wagon, spraying the Whitecloaks with mud.  Feeling giddy, Rand laughs at the Whitecloaks, who accost him and threaten him.  Rand burnishes his sword, and the Whitecloaks see it is heron-marked.  Luckily, the city Watch arrives and chases the Whitecloaks away.  Mat says Rand must be going crazy to behave so with the Children of the Light.

They find Thom as they go back to the Stag and Lion.  Both boys tell Thom of their dreams, and he asks them for all the details.  He says it is better to keep this from Moiraine, for the time being.  They rush back to the inn to make sure Perrin doesn't tell her.  At the door, Perrin meets them, flustered, saying that Nynaeve has just arrived.  They go in to see her.

Chapter 16, "The Wisdom"

As they enter the inn, Min grabs Rand and pulls him to the side.  She says Nynaeve is a part of it—a part of their group.  Before, three or four of them had to be in the same room together, but now she saw sparks with just Moiraine and Nynaeve present.

They go into the same dining room, and Nynaeve is there with Moiraine, Egwene, and Lan.  Rand, Mat, Perrin, and Thom enter—the boys and Egwene sitting at the table between the two women.  Lan asks how she found them, and Nynaeve tells him that she followed his tracks.  Lan compliments her abilities, and she blushes.  Moiraine and Nynaeve argue about whether the Emond's Fielders should go on or go home.  Rand says they need to go on, even if there is only a chance that it would bring the Trollocs back.

Moiraine dismisses everyone from the room, leaving only herself and Nynaeve to chat.  They wait outside the door, and when Nynaeve comes out, only Rand remains.  Nynaeve comments about how he's grown in just a week.  He asks what Moiraine said.  Nynaeve tells him that the Aes Sedai wondered if any of the boys were born outside the Two Rivers.  Then, Rand realizes that Tam's fever dream must be at least part true.  He tells Nynaeve about it, and Nynaeve confirms that Tam and Kari arrived in the Two Rivers with an infant.  He asks if Mat or Perrin were born outside the Two Rivers, but immediately says it's not his business.  He asks her what she's going to do, and she replies that they'll just have to see.

My take:

Sorry for the long synopsis; a lot happened in these chapters.  There's a lot to discuss, as well, so I'll try to do it chronologically.

First, Rand thinks when Lan mentions Logain, that the Warder talked "as if he knew him."  I believe we've touched on this before, but it's worth mentioning again.  Of course, we know the end of the series, and nothing has come from a relationship between Lan and Logain, but it's curious to think that their paths might have crossed.  Logain is a minor noble, and Lan and Moiraine have traveled far and wide, so it's not farfetched to think they could have met.

There's also something in the scene when Moiraine tells the Emond's Fielders that they will stay in Baerlon for two nights.  She smiles, and turns to Lan and says, "What does Master Andra say to that?"  The tone it's told in really humanizes her.  She's giving the country folk a chance in the city, a treat, and she's enjoying giving it to them.  The cute, almost banter, between her and Lan lets us see she isn't all bad.  She's able to feel joy and happiness.  I really think that this shows us an Aes Sedai who is capable of caring.  Elaida, for instance, would never feel pleasure out of seeing their grinning faces.  (And we see more of this in a few chapters, when Moiraine actually dances in the common room.)

Moving on to the dream sequence.  This is the first time Rand is taken to the place with the bizarre sky.  He revisits it several times throughout this book, and a few times in the later books.  When Rand first had dreams that weren't dreams in Chapter 9, "Tellings of the Wheel," I questioned whether he was in a dreamshard or in Tel'aran'rhiod.  After reading this passage, I'm convinced the first a dreamshard—controlled by Ishamael—and the latter Tel'aran'rhiod.  Dreamshards, we find out in A Memory of Light, are a bit of a person's own memories and personalities.  They can shape it any way they want.  That makes sense for the first dream, as Ishamael would be showing Rand images to frighten him and make him suspicious of the White Tower.  However, when Rand enters the room with the balcony and faces in the fireplace, it seems like Ishamael is less in control.

Ishamael shows that he, in some ways, has power over the world around them.  When he breaks the rat's back, he forces Rand to look:

“Do you think you are safe from me in your dreams? Look!” Ba'alzamon pointed commandingly, and Rand's head turned to follow, although he did not turn it; he did not want to turn.

However, if Ishamael was in complete control, he would have force Rand to drink the goblet.  This suggest Tel'aran'rhiod to me.

On that topic, what was in the goblet?  Surely not poison.  We know how much Ishamael wants Rand, needs Rand, to fulfill certain prophecies and schemes of the Shadow.  Ishamael needs the Dragon in order to complete his plans.  While there is a lot of back and forth among the other Forsaken (kill him; don't kill him), Ishamael knows the importance of Rand and the balance he brings.   Rand's death this early wouldn't have worked towards Ishamael's advantage.

Maybe it would have been something akin to forkroot?  Something that would dull Rand's channeling?  That would make it easier for Ishamael to narrow down which boy he needed.  If he gave it to Mat and Perrin, nothing would happen.  The only problem is, I don't know if the Shadow is aware of forkroot.  Nynaeve uses it on Moghedien (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 55, "The Threads Burn"), but it doesn't say if she knew of it before Ronde Macura made it well known.

It's been so long since my first read through of this book, so it's hard for me to remember what I was feeling then.  I wonder if the reader is supposed to believe that Ba'alzamon is the Dark One.  Rand certainly believes—though Thom doesn't seem to be nearly as afraid when the boys tell him.  To the reader, we figure out soon—if we didn't doubt right away—that Ba'alzamon is really Ishamael.  Looking at this chapter, though, it's incredibly obvious.  Look at the phrases Ishamael uses when tell Rand he was never bound in Shayol Ghul:

“You are bound—”

 

 “Fool, I have never been bound!” The fires of his face roared so hot that Rand stepped back, sheltering behind his hands. The sweat on his palms dried from the heat. "I stood at Lews Therin Kinslayer's shoulder when he did the deed that named him. It was I who told him to kill his wife, and his children, and all his blood, and every living person who loved him or whom he loved. It was I who gave him the moment of sanity to know what he had done. Have you ever heard a man scream his soul away, worm? He could have struck at me, then. He could not have won, but he could have tried. Instead he called down his precious One Power upon himself, so much that the earth split open and reared up Dragonmount to mark his tomb.

The prologue is probably far from the reader's mind at this point, but it's clearly stated that this man, Ba'alzamon, stood at Lews Therin's side when he killed his family, saw him use the One Power to kill himself.  Elan Morin Tedroni was the only person who saw that.  And while we don't know he's Ishamael, we can ferret out he's definitely not the Dark One.  (Also, Elan Morin uses the name Shai'tan as a curse.  I'm sure the Dark One wouldn’t swear by his own name.)

And one last thing on the subject of Ishamael needing Rand, why else would he give Rand the hint about the Eye of the World?  That's like giving away the location to the bank you are going to rob to the police.  It doesn't make sense.  They could have tried to make it a trap—with Balthamel and Aginor waiting—yet they say it was Mat's dagger that led them there, not any plan amongst the Forsaken.  But letting this information slip allows Rand to not only kill two Forsaken, but also get the Dragon Banner, the Horn of Valere, and save the battle at Tarwin's Gap.  Seems pretty stupid for someone of the Shadow to help the Light so much.

One last idle thought about this sequence… Is this room within Moridin's fortress that's inside Shayol Ghul?

In the next chapter, Rand gets his first reaction to touching saidin.  The time span in-between was about eight or nine days. As he channels a few more times, the span becomes smaller.  I love how it made him giddy this time.  It's a sign to the reader that something is wrong—and Robert Jordan does such a wonderful job of juxtaposing this to the explanation of Nynaeve's first channeling later—but we don't have enough information yet to guess what it is. 

This is also where we see real differences between Mat, Rand, and Perrin.  Their first time in a city, and Perrin won't leave the inn.  Rand—who had the same dreams—forces himself to go out, but Perrin isn't able to do that.  He says, "I wish I was back home."  Mat doesn't even need to struggle to put on a normal face and act fine.  This sets up Perrin for being a sort of guy who doesn't like change, who will always want to be as normal as possible.  He says he knows his duty, but he fights against it just as hard—if not harder—than Rand and Mat do.  And this is one of the reasons he really struggled with leadership in the later books.  Many people comment how whiny he got, but if you look at his roots, at his core, you can see why he resisted so hard.

And here we are introduced to Min and her viewings.  Her whole purpose though the series is to give hints to the readers.  The things she tells Rand never really help him.  They are for us only, to try and piece together as much as we can.  I love this ability; it's what's kept a lot of theories and discussions going over the course of twenty-three years.  However, some of them are still a bit fuzzy—to me, at least.

When Min says Egwene "won't refuse it," I don't think it just means begin Aes Sedai.  I think it's referring to being raised Amyrlin. 

The images around Lan I've talked about several times before—mostly insisting he would survive the Last Battle.  So I'll just say that they show only the future, so he and Nynaeve will have at least once child after Tarmon Gai'don.  

Perrin's were obvious from the start—as soon as we learned the truth of who Faile really was.  Mat's too are pretty straightforward, after Towers of Midnight came out.  For Rand, the only one that still eludes me is the "bloody hand and a white-hot iron."  The bloody hand could be when his is blown off by Semirhage, but I'm not sure about the white-hot iron.

And with Nynaeve's arrival, we see real signs of ta'veren-ness at work in the world.  

At any rate, I could see it would be another day, perhaps more, before they came to any decision, and somehow ... somehow I was sure we did not dare wait that long. So I called the Women's Circle together and told them what had to be done.

This could be Nynaeve's manifestation of Listening to the Wind—how she knows that emotional storms are coming—but I bet it's just Rand, and to a lesser extent, Mat and Perrin, tugging at her.  Nynaeve is one of the most important characters in the story.  The things she accomplished helped Rand to win.  Without her, many things would have changed.

That's all for this week.  Let me know if there's something I glossed over.  And please join me next time as we continue the beginning of this wonderful journey.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 10 - 13. 

Synopsis:

Chapter 10, "Leavetaking"

Rand, Mat, and Lan all go into the stableyard where Perrin is standing guard.  Lan asks if Perrin checked the area and Perrin says he has.  Lan sets to work saddling horses.  Mat notices that Rand is wearing Tams sword, and makes a joke about it.  Perrin also has a weapon, an axe made by Master Luhhan.  The boys talk about whether to believe Moiraine's claim that the Trollocs are after them.  Rand confirms that she told the truth about their homes being burned first.  When Rand mentions his father also agreeing that they had to leave, Moiraine appears suddenly and questions him.  Mat and Perrin swear they only left notes, as instructed.

Lan tells them they are ready to go when Egwene comes into the stableyard, insisting she will go along with them.  After some argument, Moiraine says Egwene can accompany them.  Lan says she can take Thom's horse, when Thom pops out of the hayloft and says he will travel with them as well.  After more discussion, Thom is allowed to go.  They choose Bela as a horse for Egwene.

They sneak out of the stable and into the night.  They pause as mounted riders—the organized watch discussed before Winternight—ride past.  They go quietly through the outskirts of the village; Rand constantly looks about, holding on to the last images of Emond's Field. 

Traveling through the countryside, parallel to the North Road, Rand see a shape in front of the moon, something like a bat.  He tells Lan, who calls it a Draghkar.  Wanting speed, Moiraine directs them to the North Road at a gallop.

Chapter 11, "The Road to Taren Ferry"

The group races up the North Road.  Rand didn't anticipate running at such speeds, and begins to worry about Egwene and Bela.  The old horse surely couldn't keep up with this pace for long.  He vows to drop back if Egwene slows.  He silently cheers Bela on, trying to give her strength, asking the Light for help.

Lan slows them down and Rand sees in surprise that they are already to Watch Hill.  The villagers and Thom discuss resting in the village, but Lan only gives them a moment to catch their breath.  Moiraine circles the horses, draining their fatigue with the One Power.  When she gets to Bela, she tells Rand that the old mare has a good heart, and is the least weary of them all.

The Draghkar's scream fills the night, and the horses spook.  Rand barely holds onto Cloud's reigns.  They mount up and run.  As they run, Rand notices sudden banks of fog appearing around them.  Rand suspects Moiraine must have used the One Power to summon it.  The riders clump together, still running at full speed. 

After several hours, Lan slows them again.  They are in Taren Ferry.  The houses are strange to Rand's eyes.  The Warder leads the group to the ferry owner, then makes a deal with him to carry the group across the river.  Master Hightower agrees to meet them at the landing.

Chapter 12, "Across the Taren"

They take their horses to the ferry landing.  Following the examples of Thom and Lan, Rand tries to make himself look more intimidating.  Hightower appears with his workers and demands the money promised.  Lan informs the man he will receive it on the other side of the river.  As they cross, Rand asks Lan if Hightower would rob them.  Lan comments on human nature, that men are more likely to do bad things if their deeds are hidden.  This makes Rand worry about Darkfriends.

On the opposite bank, Hightower wants his gold.  Moiraine says each worker will also receive a silver mark.  The men walk off the ferry.  As Lan hands out coins, Moiraine looks at the river.  Suddenly, the ferry comes lose, and is sucked into the water by a whirlpool.  Moiraine apologize that they lost their ferry in her service and has Lan pay the man more money.  Hightower takes the coins, then rushes into the fog. 

The fog ends a few feet up the bank.  Thom wonders why Moiraine didn't make the fog extend all the way to Baerlon.  Moiraine explains that this will trick the Draghkar into thinking they have taken a boat up or down river.   Mat finally works up the courage to ask Moiraine if she caused the whirlpool.  She only says that she intends to get them all safely to Tar Valon.

Lan had prepared a campsite along the bank on their way to the Two Rivers.  After hobbling the horses, they go inside a small covered area.  Moiraine and Egwene are speaking about the One Power, and a bit about the Red Ajah and insane male channelers.  Moiraine tells Egwene that she is one of a handful of people who will channel the One Power whether she wishes to or not.  She is also close to her change, and it would be better if Moiraine guided her in it.  The Aes Sedai pulls out her blue stone and holds it between their hands.  Small lights flash off the stone.  Egwene produced the last light on her own.  She rushes to Rand, proclaiming she will be an Aes Sedai.

Chapter 13, "Choices"

Before going to sleep, Moiraine uses the Power to drain the fatigue out of all the travelers.  Thom tries to pull away, but Moiraine forces him.  They rest for an hour, then remount and continue on their way.  They travel north, taking great pains to avoid towns, farms, or people.  Their first night, Lan begins to teach the boys how to use their weapons.  Moiraine tells him to continue the lessons.  Thom entertains them at nights with juggling and stories. 

Two days after they leave the river, Egwene unbraids her hair.  She and Rand shout at each other, and Rand says Aes Sedai are Darkfriends.  Lan quiets them down, and Rand realizes he said more than he should have.

Two nights after that, Mat suggests that they head south once they reach Caemlyn, instead of going to Tar Valon.  Moiraine heard him, and threatens the boys.  She would rather kill them herself than let the Dark One have them. 

Another night, Rand sneaks close to listen to Egwene's and Moiraine's nightly chats.  The two women talk about the male Aes Sedai who went insane, and of the taint on saidin.  Moiraine accidently lets slip that someone else in Emond's Field can learn to channel.  Moiraine tells Egwene that Aes Sedai are both good and bad, strong and weak, brave and cowardly.  The Power will not change who she is.  Egwene then asks why the Trollocs came to the Two Rivers.  Moiraine's eyes look to Rand's hiding spot, and he quickly, and quietly leaves the area. 

After a week, they arrive at Baerlon.  The city has a twenty-foot high wall surrounding it.  The Emond's Fielders gape at it and Thom rolls his eyes.  Moiraine instructs them not to talk about Trollocs or Fades.  She warns them that Darkfriends may be in the city, so they need to be careful.

They approach a small, closed gate, and the gatekeeper hurries to open it for them.  He tells them of a battle between Aes Sedai and the False Dragon in Ghealdan—and that the man can channel and is heading for Tear.  He also says Whitecloaks are in the city.  Rand asks Thom what heading for Tear would mean, and Thom explains about The Karaethon Cycle.  The Prophecies of the Dragon state that the Stone of Tear will only fall when the Sword That Cannot Be Touched is held by the Dragon.

The group goes down an alley and enters into the back entrance of an inn.  The innkeeper, Master Fitch, rushes out and welcomes them to the Stag and Lion.

My take:

In all honesty, not much happens in these few chapters.  This is the calm before the storm unleashes.  As far as pacing goes, I think Robert Jordan used this time intentionally to lull us—like Mat—into a false sense of security.  Moiraine warns repeatedly of the danger, but our wayward heroes often disregard her advice (like when they get to Shadar Logoth).

One curious thing about the trip across the river, Moiraine tells Lan that they don't want to stand out in Master Hightower's mind.  However, their actions are very suspicious.  When Lan doesn't put away his coins, he lets on that he knew more than he should have.  When Moiraine insists they pay the man before he could demand it makes them seem like they're scheming.  The situation could have been handled better, I think.

I also think it's funny that Mat already has an aversion to the Power being used on him.  The other two ta'veren quickly get over this fear.  Mat keeps it till the very end.  I like that, despite how much he does grow, some of his roots are still the same.

Moiraine's character also changes a lot over these chapters.  Our first impression of her is of a kind noblewoman, who hands out coins to children in town with a ready smile.  Next, we see her as a figure of power, regal despite her soot stained clothes, as she Heals Tam.  Here, we see her merciless and far beyond the typical Aes Sedai coldness:

Chapter 13, "Choices"

 

"The Dark One is after you three, one or all, and if I let you go running off wherever you want to go, he will take you. Whatever the Dark One wants, I oppose, so hear this and know it true. Before I let the Dark One have you, I will destroy you myself."

Knowing what we know now, we are outraged at this flippant disregard for the Pattern.  What would have happened if she tried to kill Rand?  But, at the time, she only has clues about who, or what, they are.  Would it be better if Rand were killed than turned towards the Shadow?  The Borderland rulers seem to agree with Moiraine's way of thinking when they approach him to fulfill the prophecy (Towers of Midnight, Chapter 51, "A Testing").

There's also the use of Moiraine's passive aggressive way of bullying:

Chapter 13, "Choices"

 

"You have further to go yet," Moiraine said. "Much further. But there is no other choice, except to run and hide and run again for the rest of your lives. And short lives they would be. You must remember that, when the journey becomes hard. You have no choice."

A lot of Rand's inner confusion stems from these few simple words.  How long did he fight against things, struggled against the Pattern itself, because he felt he had no choice?  We know he did.  We saw how many choices he had when he used the Portal Stone in The Great Hunt (Chapter 37, "What Might Be").  Moiraine, I feel, only spoke the truth as she saw it, yet I think this had unexpected consequences for Rand, and his relationship with her in the future.  

One last thing to pull out from this section.  One thing I've always disliked about Mat's character in the beginning is how quickly he turns away from Rand when he finds out Rand can channel.  That told me that Rand wasn't a true friend of Mat; true friendship accepts no matter what.  And I was moved to tears when at the end of The Eye of the World Egwene only hesitates a moment before throwing her arms around Rand when she finds out he can channel.  The two contrasted so greatly.

However, on this reread, I wanted to pay attention to the opposite side of the argument.  How did Rand react when he found out Egwene could channel?  The scene where she finds out is quickly cut—the chapter ends right after she tells him.  However, in the next chapter, Rand and Egwene have the argument about her hair being braided:

Chapter 13, "Choices"

 

Startled, he asked, "What are you doing?" She gave him a sidelong look without answering. It was the first time he had spoken to her in two days, he realized, since the night in the log shelter on the bank of the Taren, but he did not let that stop him. "All your life you've waited to wear your hair in a braid, and now you're giving it up? Why? Because she doesn't braid hers?"

He realized he hadn't talked to her in two days, since he found out she could channel?  I was incredibly disappointed!  I always thought better of Rand.  I thought he would be the type to accept others as they are, not take Mat's way of isolation.

But I was wrong.  It did take Rand time to come to terms with Egwene channeling the Power.  I think the only one of the bunch who wasn't put out at all was be Perrin.  Likewise, he doesn't really judge Rand when he finds out in The Great Hunt.  

That's all I've got for these chapters, but let me know if there's something I overlooked.  Join us next time when the storm (Nynaeve) unleashes its fury on our travelers.  Thanks for reading.

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, only chapter 9 this time, but there's a lot to talk about. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis

Chapter 9, "Tellings of the Wheel"

In a dream, Rand is running through a desolate landscape, unseen pursuers behind him.  He scrambles to the top of a cliff with a long drop below him and no other place to go.  In the valley below the cliff is a single mountain reaching far into the sky.  He doesn't know the mountain, but he remembers it.

Unseen things begin to pull on his body, drawing him towards the mountain.  A familiar voice tells him he must serve.  Rand struggles to resist the pull of voice and fingers and uses his stubbornness and anger as the source.  He curses Shai'tan and suddenly sees a figure hovering over him, a figure in a blood red cloak and a face that is horrible, but not described.  Terrified, Rand throws himself off the edge of the cliff.

He lands in some grass with a different mountain looming over him.  Beside it, there are a river, an island, and a city out of a gleeman's tale.  Rand knows that safety waits in that city, but as hard as he runs, he cannot reach it.  The city gets smaller and smaller and the things chasing him get closer and closer.  He screams, and trips.

He is on paving stones within the city.  Around him are happy faces, people urging him forward, toward the tall tower in the middle of the city.  Rand wants to see a bit more of the city before going to the tower, so he turns down a side road, and sees the tower before him.  He turns down anther road, and the tower is still there.  He tires to run from it, but the people around him gesture him forward.  They need him to go.  He obliges.  He walks to the tower and the crowd sings and dances around him, giving him garlands around his neck.  He dances with them.  He gets to the square outside the tower and the crowd stops.  He continues on alone.  He enters the tower and a Myrddraal waits inside for him.

Rand wakes up at the inn.  Mistress al'Vere has left him some food, so he eats it quickly, then stands beside his sleeping father.  As he touches Tam's forehead, Tam opens his eyes.  Rand tells Tam everything Moiraine had said about the Dark One being after him, Mat, and Perrin.  Tam reluctantly agrees that Rand needs to leave. 

Lan arrives and says there is trouble.  Rand starts to take off the sword, but Tam tells him to keep it.  Rand hugs Tam—and unable to ask about the fever dreams—leaves with the Warder.  Mat is waiting outside in the hallway and they all go downstairs together.

In the street in front of the inn, a mob has gathered.  They threaten the inn and the Aes Sedai.  Moiraine raises her wooden staff, which shoots fire out the ends, and tells the villagers about Manetheren.  At the end of her story, the villagers apologize for their behavior and leave. 

Lan leads Rand and Mat out to the stableyard and Rand realizes he is actually leaving his home.

My take:

When I read this part the first few times, I felt that the dream sequence was a waste of time.  I wanted to continue with the story—especially the part when Moiraine tells of Manetheren.  Many agree that scene is one of their favorites.  But looking at the dream now, looking at it closely, there is a ton of information we can pick up.

First off, there's a very subtle hint that Lews Therin is present inside Rand.  We typically don't think of Lews Therin emerging until The Fires of Heaven—when small phrases start showing up in Rand's conversation (like calling Moiraine "little sister" (Chapter 2, "Rhuidean")).  But he is clearly here now, if you look close enough.  I'm surprised I've never noticed before.

During the dream sequence, when Rand's looking at Shayol Ghul and the Bore, he thinks:

That bleak stone spire, a dagger stabbing at the heavens, was the source of his desolation. He had never seen it before, but he knew it. The memory of it flashed away like quicksilver when he tried to touch it, but the memory was there. He knew it was there.

Just a quick side note on Shayol Ghul.  My understanding of it is that it was created when Mierin and Beidomon drilled into the Bore—we see in the glass-column ter'angreal that the release of the Power from within the Bore brought down the Collam Daan.  So, the land around became barren after it was opened. 

Therefore, Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions would have seen Shayol Ghul as it is in Rand's dream.  The source of the memory had to be from Lews Therin!  One strange thing to think about is that Mat and Perrin are seeing these same dreams—after all, Ba'alzamon isn't sure which of them is the Dragon Reborn yet.  To them, would it be just another mountain, since they don't have that "memory" to guide them?

Another thing Rand remembers is the voice calling him.  It says:

Serve me, a voice whispered in the stillness of his mind. A familiar voice. If he listened hard enough he was sure he would know it. Serve me. He shook his head to try to get it out of his head. Serve me! He shook his fist at the black mountain. “The Light consume you, Shai'tan!”

Notice that this voice is "familiar" as well.  After this, Rand sees a figure.  He doesn't describe what the figure's face looks like, but we can assume that it's the flame-filled eyes and mouth that Ishamael uses.  It's the form of Ba'alzamon. 

Whose voice is it actually?  It isn't really the Dark One—because he speaks in ALL CAPS.  So, this has to be the voice of Ishamael.  His voice would only be familiar to Lews Therin.  And Rand knows that if he listens hard enough, he would remember the voice.  This could be the first time that Lews Therin's personality is trying to dominate Rand's.  What would have happened if Rand had let him, if Rand would  have listened hard enough?  Would he have realized that Ba'alzamon was really Ishamael?  Would Lews Therin and Rand merged sooner?  Would it have cause peace or sown more chaos?

And that makes me wonder about Rand's childhood.  There's many studies that suggest that children are more sensitive to supernatural presences—or more perceptive to things that are unseen.  Would Rand have been more susceptible to Lews Therin's personality as a child?  Would it have made things easier if they had merged back then?  Or would it have erased the good ethics Rand learned from Tam and the Two Rivers?  Did Rand every have an imaginary friend who was actually Lews Therin?

I know these questions sound silly, but reading this one scene made them all likely possibilities.

When Rand dreams of Tar Valon, I wonder about the purpose of it.  Was Ishamael trying to scare him away from the Tower by showing a Myrddraal inside?  Rand actually does take a lot of the things Ba'alzamon says as being true—mostly about Aes Sedai and the Tower.  This could be the beginning of that seed of doubt.

Also, when he's going towards the Tower, he thinks as he dances with the crowd that, "his feet were lighter than they had ever been, dancing with... He could not remember the name, but it did not seem important."  I wonder who he was thinking about dancing with.  Could it have been Egwene, or maybe Ilyena?

There's one last thing about these dreams.  We didn't really find out about dreamshards until A Memory of Light (prologue), but it seems to me that all this time Ishamael has been using them when he pulls Rand, Mat, and Perrin into his Dreams.  In my opinion, this is confirmed when Rand realizes he's in a dreamshard, and it leads him to Ishamael (Chapter 4, "Advantages of a Bond")—the same way he was usually called into Dreams of Ishamael's making during The Eye of the World through The Dragon Reborn.

Moving on past the dreams, and I know I've brought this up before, but I'm still completely flabbergasted that Tam didn't even suspect the Rand might be the Dragon Reborn.  Tam says, "What would Trollocs want with you boys? Or the Dark One, the Light help us?"  I know, and I think Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson have both commented on, how no one really believes they are a part of prophecy, but when Tam finds out Shadowspawn are after his adopted son, why wouldn’t he think back to where he found Rand?  That should have stirred some memory.  He should have some idea, even if it's only a gut feeling.  The Dark One wouldn't be hunting people just for the hell of it.

I still tear up when I read Moiraine's account of Manetheren.  Wheel of Time—one of its major themes, at least—is about bravery in the face of defeat.  We see this continually with many of the characters, and nations.  The Borderlanders, the Aiel (past and present), the people of Manetheren.  All show unspeakable bravery when called upon.  And I love that this tale is our first taste of what the people of the Two Rivers are capable of.

But Moiraine's speech has more purpose than just inspiring us—the readers—and captivating the Two Rivers' folk.  This hidden piece of their history prepared the Two Rivers to pick up their bows, pitchforks, and axes—this made them ready to follow Perrin.  If they never learned about how ordinary shepherds and farmers fought for Manetheren, they never would have found that inner vein of bravery and courage.  They would have assumed the troubles of the world would pass them by.  But Moiraine rekindled that part of the Old Blood within them.  In just a few pages, she turned them into warriors.

And one last bit about Manetheren.  When Moiraine is speaking of the hoard of Trollocs and Dreadlords, she says:

At night their cookfires outnumbered the stars, and dawn revealed the banner of Ba'alzamon at their head. Ba'alzamon, Heart of the Dark. An ancient name for the Father of Lies. The Dark One could not have been free of his prison at Shayol Ghul, for if he had been, not all the forces of humankind together could have stood against him, but there was power there. Dreadlords, and some evil that made that light-destroying banner seem no more than right and sent a chill into the souls of the men who faced it.

Besides the prologue, "Dragonmount," this is the first evidence we see of Ishamael not being completely sealed within the Bore.  He brags later that he caused all sorts of chaos along history's timeline—making Hawkwing hate Aes Sedai, forming the Black Ajah, etc.—but here is proof.  Notice Moiraine's use of the word "some evil."  There had to be more than just Dreadlords there.  In fact, Ishamael would be necessary to recruit Dreadlords.  With only shadowspawn working for him, how could the Dark One let channelers know he was looking for help?  People would need to be convinced or coerced.  And that would most likely require Ishamael.

I'm really hoping the Encyclopedia will give us more information on the nature of Ishamael's half-caught abilities.  It's hard to sum up all he was capable of.

But that's all I've got for today.  It's incredible how much you can squeeze out of one chapter.  Join us next time for more of The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 7-8. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis

Chapter 7, "Out of the Woods"

As dawn approaches, Rand is happy to smell the chimney smoke from Emond's Field.  However, there's too much smoke on the air.  As he exits the woods, he sees that half the town is in ruins.  Villagers are poking through the charred rubble and Master al'Vere's horses are pulling Trolloc corpses down the road.  

Haral Luhhan, the blacksmith, shows up and leads Rand to where Nynaeve is.  They run into Egwene, who quickly goes to get the Wisdom. 

Rand notices that Mat's house has burned down and inquires if his friend is all right.  Master Luhhan says Mat is fine.   He also mentions that the Trollocs raided his house as if he had "gold and jewels in there."  When Rand wonders what they'd do if the Trollocs come back, Master Luhhan replies that the Two Rivers folk will survive.  Rand realizes that the villagers are moving with purpose; they're already starting to rebuild.

Nynaeve comes out and says there is nothing she can do for Tam.  Rand tries to convince her, but she refuses.  Rand decides to take Tam to the Mayor.

At the inn, Thom helps Rand carry Tam inside.  The Mayor gets him settled in a bed and sends Thom off to get Nynaeve.  Rand tells Bran that Nynaeve won't help, but he thought the Mayor could make her.  Thom returns and says Nynaeve will not come.

In desperation, Rand asks what he can do.  He can't just watch his father die.  Thom mentions that the Dragon's Fang has been scrawled on the inn's door, which prompts the Mayor to remember that Moiraine is an Aes Sedai, and Aes Sedai can Heal.

Rand runs to find Moiraine and asks her to Heal Tam, saying he will pay any price.  Moiraine agrees and returns to the inn with Rand. 

Chapter 8, "A Place of Safety"

In Tam's room, Moiraine tells them all to leave, but Rand asks to stay.  Moiraine allows it.  Lan asks Rand about the heron-marked sword while Moiraine begins to work on Tam.  Rand confesses that he saw a man in the woods the day before, a man who wore all black and the wind didn't touch his cloak.  Lan berates Rand, saying he should have told them.  Moiraine chimes in that knowing wouldn't have given them much of an advantage.

Rand asks if his father is okay.  Moiraine tells him the blade the Trolloc used was tainted by the forges of Thakan'dar, and the taint is inside Tam's body.  She pulls out an angreal to Heal him properly. 

Lan tells Rand that the dark rider was a Myrddraal.  Rand then confesses that he spoke to a Trolloc at his home.  He explains to Lan everything that happened the night before, and Lan tells him that few men south of the Borderlands have killed—or even seen—a Trolloc.  

Moiraine completes her Healing and Rand is so happy he repeats his early promise of paying any price. She then tells Rand that he must leave with them.  She explains that his house, Mat's house, the blacksmith's house, and the Aybara farm were the first places to be attacked.  This means that the Dark One was after Rand, Mat, and Perrin ("In one of you or all three, there is something the Dark One fears").  Rand doesn't believe her right away, but understands that to refuse her offer would be putting his village in jeopardy.  He also feels a bit relieved that Perrin and Mat must leave too.  Moiraine and Lan leave to find the other two boys.

The Mayor and his wife come back into the room.  Circumspectly, Rand asks the Mayor about which houses were struck first.  Bran confirms that the Forge and the Cauthon's house went up in flames before anything else.  Since she didn't lie about that, Rand thinks she didn't lie about the rest.

Rand tries to stay awake in Tam's room, to be there when his father wakes up, but he falls asleep.

My take:

Chapter 8, in literary terms, is referred to as the "call to action."  In it, Rand willingly agrees to start out on this journey.  He could have said no, and stayed (or could he?), so this is where the real journey starts.  From here on out, the plotlines thicken and expand.  I love reading these parts.  It's so easy to get captivated by the thrill of the beginning.

A few things to point out about these two chapters.  Some just idle thought, others really interesting ideas.  First, the idle:

Why would the Trollocs bother burning Fain's wagon?  He's the one who led them there—we find out later—so why go through the effort of burning all his things?  At this point, Fain is still the Dark One's "hound," but wouldn't it have been easier on him—and the Shadowspawn—to still have his wagon?  They had to carry him most of the way, so why not let him have some of his supplies to help make the trip faster?  

I could maybe see that they wouldn't want to leave any clues for the Two Rivers folk, but that doesn't seem like something a Trolloc, or a Myrddraal, would even think about.  Why would they care if the Two Rivers though Fain was a Darkfriend—not that anyone would have made that connection, I'm sure.  Maybe it was just the battle frenzy that overwhelmed the Trollocs?  Either way, it seems unnecessary. 

And what of Thom and his hinting about Healing from an Aes Sedai?  I understand his point about being a stranger, but it seems sad that he wouldn't even offer the advice to save Rand's father.  The Mayor got there eventually, but it could have been the difference between life and death for Tam.

I think this is one of the many miraculous ways Robert Jordan worked in foreshadowing.  We see Thom being very manipulative in this scene.  Rand isn't able to see it, but we sure can.  And later, we learn that Thom is a master of daes dae'mar, used to making people dance to his tunes.  How awesome it is to go back to these early chapters and see that Thom is Thom, even then.  The Thom we know later would have done the same thing.  His character is established from the start, and he remains true to it all throughout the series.

And just a little bit of clarification on the whole ta'veren thing.  Robert Jordan said this in an interview:

For another thing, no one is born ta’veren. Rand, Mat, and Perrin only became ta’veren just before Moiraine appeared. You become ta’veren according to the needs of the Wheel. Like the Heroes linked to the Wheel, who are spun out as needed to try to keep the weaving of the Pattern straight, a man or woman becomes ta’veren because the Wheel has “decided” to use them as an influence on the Pattern. And, no, the Wheel isn’t sentient. Think more of a fuzzy logic device that uses feedback to correct what it is doing in order to do it in the most efficient way.

Last time, I did argue that Rand was ta'veren from birth, but it seems Robert Jordan said otherwise.  He also states that Rand only became ta'veren shortly before Moiraine arrived.  That means, a few days, a week, before Bel Tine.  That would explain Rand's luck with the Trolloc, and his easy evasion of the Fade on the road.

However, I still think there's more to it than that.  Rand's whole life has been strewn with coincidences that led him to where he is—where he is needed.  If ta'veren-ness ebbs and flows, perhaps Rand was ta'veren earlier, and then it went away.  It took some mighty big yanks for the Pattern to get Tam up on that mountain right as Rand's mother died.

Oh, and more proof that Rand is ta'veren in these chapters is that Moiraine mentions dreams.  She means the dreams that aren't dreams—which will be coming up in the next chapter.  And we know that Ishamael is responsible for these dreams.  We also know—much later in the series—that Ishamael is able to find ta'veren and that's the only reason he was able to start the dreams so soon after escaping the Bore.  Since Rand has these dreams, he has to be ta'veren.  Otherwise, Ishamael wouldn’t have been able to contact him, Mat, or Perrin.

Another curious thing here is Rand's insistence to pay a price for Tam's Healing.  I'm thinking and thinking, and I can't find a single time when Moiraine uses this to her advantage.  When Rand starts misbehaving, why doesn't she remind him that he owes her a debt?  A debt he can "never repay"?  It seems to me this would have been the best way to manipulate him.  He would have honored his word to her—especially since he really is eternally grateful that his father was saved—so why didn't she use it?  That seems like an un-Aes Sedai thing to do.

As I mentioned last time, Rand's first channeling is coming up later this night.  So, it's understandable that he might already be feeling the effects of saidin—one of which might be the ability to sense Shadowspawn.  But in chapter 8, Rand shivers and rubs his arms when Moiraine channels.  Again, this is a subtle clue left by Robert Jordan, to hint at something we don't really discover until The Dragon Reborn.  

Here's something I've never really picked up on before.  When Moiraine tells Rand he has to leave and Rand says he doesn't want to, Moiraine looks at Lan, and the Warder "said suddenly" statistics of whose houses were attacked first.  We learn that Aes Sedai cannot lie, but Warders can no problem.  One of the reasons they keep the Warders around, I'm sure, is to have someone who can lie at any moment.  And the obvious shift—with Moiraine's look and Lan's sudden speech—definitely points out that something suspicious is going on.  

While reading through this, I can't see an outright lie.  But perhaps there's one buried deep in that statement.  

When Rand finally decides he will go, Lan sighs in relief.  That sentence makes me wonder about what would have happened if Rand had refused.  Would the idea of price be brought up then?  Or would Moiraine be desperate enough to use Compulsion—or something similar if she doesn't knows the weave?  Would Lan knock him out and carry him over his shoulder?  How much would change if Rand hadn't willingly made the first step outside of the Two Rivers?  I think the story would have ended quite different if that had happened.

Well, that's all for this week.  Not too many answers, and just a bunch more questions.  Please join me next time for the next few chapters of The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 5-6. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis

Chapter 5, "Winternight"

Rand and Tam return to the farm.  After inspecting the area—searching for signs of the black rider, and finding none—they get to work on chores.  They go inside to finish dinner, and while waiting, Tam gets out a key and locks the front and back doors, something that had never been done in Rand's memory.  Then, as Rand fixes tea, Tam gets out a storage box from his upstairs bedroom and returns with a sword.  Rand is instantly filled with curiosity about how Tam came to own a sword.  Tam says Kari told him to get rid of it, but it might be a good thing that he had held onto it all these years.

There is a sudden knock from the door, and a few seconds later, it is broken down and a huge shape fills the doorway.  Rand throws the kettle of boiling water at it and Tam kills it with the sword.  Tam tells Rand to run, and he goes to the back door.  The door is locked, so he climbs out the window.  He warns Tam that they are coming in the back, then runs to the side of the barn.  Tam emerges a few moments later, and heads towards the back of the house.  Rand yells that he's not that way, and both run off in different directions to the forest.

They meet up in the forest, and Tam tells Rand the creatures were Trollocs—monsters out of stories.  Tam has been slashed by one of the Trolloc's swords and is burning up with fever.  Rand lets his father rest, and returns to the house for supplies.  He takes Tam's sword with him.

Once inside the house, Rand gathers up some items.  Then, one of the Trollocs on the floor gets up and begins to talk with Rand.  Narg tells Rand that they won't hurt him, and that the Myrddraal only wants to talk.  Rand lowers his sword and Narg attacks.  Rand gets the sword raised in time, killing the Trolloc.  Now he knows they will be back, so he grabs blankets, cloaks, water, and goes to find Bela in the barn.

There's no sign of the horse, or the cow, in the barn.  Instead, Rand uses pieces of the shattered cart as a litter.  He returns to Tam thinking of how he needs to get his father to Nynaeve.

Chapter 6, "The Westwood"

Rand looks over his father's wounds and wonders how a small scratch could cause such a fever.  He cleans and bandages the wound, then gets Tam situated on the litter.  Rand decides to follow the Quarry Road towards Emond's Field, but to stay hidden in the trees.  They make their way towards town.

As they continue, Tam begins to murmur with fever-dreams.  He talks about how "they came over the Dragonwall like a flood."  Rand tires to keep him quiet.  Rand hears approaching horse hoofs and crouches over Tam.  The black rider appears on the road with a lot of Trollocs marching behind him.  Rand waits until they have passed then begins to straighten.  Without a sound, the black rider appears again, inspecting the woods to either side of the road.  Soon, he passes on, then swiftly gallops back towards the farm. 

Tam begins talking again, about Avendasora, the Tree of Life, and how its sapling had been cut down.  Since Tam's voice is only a whisper, Rand pushes on for Emond's Field.  But when Tam starts talking about running from a battle, Rand can't help but hear.  He found a baby on the slopes of the mountain.  Brought the baby back to Kari.  Tells Kari that Rand is a good name.  Rand dismisses the event as a fever dream, but instantly begins to wonder who he is.

My take:

Chapter 5 is the calm before the storm, so you don't really get a sense of much going on.  It builds more on Rand's nature than anything else, how dutiful he is as a son, etc.  We see how much Tam means to him, and how Tam's presence is able to focus him and motivate him.  I think this is important later when they meet again in Towers of Midnight.  As Rand grows more powerful, and more influential, he tires to distance himself from the boy he is in The Eye of the World.  But, perhaps it was necessary for him to learn some lessons the hard way.

One ironic thing I'd like to point out in Chapter 5 is that Rand thinks, "there was no false Dragon here."  No, Rand, only the real one.

Chapter 6 starts the real journey.  Not just leaving the Two Rivers and going to the Eye of the World, but the whole journey of Rand's life as the Dragon Reborn.  We learn that the Myrddraal wants to "talk" to him from Narg the Trolloc.  We learn that other Myrddraal and Trollocs will be back—meaning that there is some reason Rand is being hunted.  And perhaps most importantly, we learn that Tam is not Rand's biological father.  More on this in a bit.

I'd like to return to the idea of Rand already being ta'veren.  I know Robert Jordan said that he only becomes ta'veren after leaving with Moiraine, but there are several references to uncanny luck in this chapter.  For instance:

How many times had he daydreamed about wearing a sword and having adventures?  If he could kill one Trolloc with it, he could surely fight of any others as well.  Only, he knew all too well that what had happened in the farmhouse had been the purest luck.

And:

The trotting column [of Trollocs] disappeared westward, thumping footfalls fading into the darkness, but Rand remained where he was, not moving a muscle except to breathe.  Something told him to be certain, absolutely certain, they were gone before he moved.

What is this "something" that tells him what to do.  It could be instincts; he did grow up on a farm and hunted in the surrounding forests.  But it could just as easily be the Pattern delicately pulling him the way he is supposed to go.

Of course, there could be another explanation.  If we jump ahead in the timeline, Rand's first channeling would be less than twenty-four hours from this moment.  Is it possible it's his connection to the One Power that warns him about the danger of the Trollocs and Myrddraal?  Once he gets a better understanding of saidin, he is able to sense Trollocs—the same way Moiraine senses them.  He could instinctively be reading the warning of the One Power.

If Rand being ta'veren is out, I think this could be the most likely explanation.  I don't think he channeled to cause that "luck," or else there's be another reaction to touching saidin before his giddiness in Baerlon.  But it would makes sense if it was related to the Power in some way.

And another ironic passage—now that we know the whole story, there's a lot of these that make me chuckle.  After Tam mentions Avendasora being cut down by Laman, Rand thinks, "Next he might actually meet the Green Man, or an Ogier giant, or a wild, black-veiled Aielman."  The Green Man they meet at the Eye, an Ogier in Caemlyn, and Rand himself is an Aielman.

Finally, there's the part about Rand discovering that Tam found him.  I love this part because it adds to the depth of the conflict throughout the whole series.  This happens very early on, and it's something that Rand doesn't put to rest until he meets Tam the second time in Towers of Midnight.  This self-doubt begins a lot of Rand's questioning.  It almost instantly cuts him off from the Two Rivers.  Though he still thinks of Tam as his father, that blood tie is gone.  It could be one of the reasons that makes Rand ignore the Two Rivers so easily when the Whitecloaks threaten.  

And what a heart-breaking way for Rand to find out about his adoption.  To have Tam talking as if to Kari was truly gut wrenching.  It makes sympathy for Rand skyrocket.  We, the readers, are instantly in tune with his pain and it brings us closer to him.

I don't think anyone could doubt the incredible character development shown by Robert Jordan in these early chapters.  Right from the start, we get a strong sense of Rand, Mat, and a bit of Perrin.  And watching them grow as the series continues is a wonderful experience—even the times when we know Rand is doing wrong.  Later in the series, it's hard to remember Rand as the innocent farmboy.  He himself has a hard time remembering.  That why I love going back and starting the series over.  It's amazing to remember his humble roots.

That's all for this week.  Please join me next time for the next few chapters of The Eye of the World.  Thanks for reading.

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  We are going to continue our reread of The Eye of the World, chapters 1 - 4. 

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Synopsis:

Chapter 1: "An Empty Road"

Rand al'Thor and his father Tam are walking down the Quarry Road, delivering cider and brandy to the Winespring Inn for Bel Tine.  As they walk, Rand has the sensation that someone is watching him.  He turns around and sees a rider, dressed all in black, atop a black horse.  Rand tells his father, but when Tam looks the stranger is gone.  Rand felt hatred from the strangers gaze and he is scared.  He also realizes that the man's cloak did not move in the wind.

When they arrive in the Two Rivers, the town is getting ready for the festival, and the arrival of spring, even if winter weather is still hanging on.  Wit Conger stops them to complain about Nynaeve al'Meara.  Tam says the Wisdom is "women's business," and pushes on towards the inn.

Outside, they run into Bran al'Vere, the Mayor and owner of the inn.  As Bran and Tam talk, Cenn Buie—another member of the Village Council— joins them.  They talk of ill omens and bad weather.  Cenn thinks Nynaeve's ability to listen to the wind tells her that winter will never end.

Rand pays attention to the adult's conversation until his friend Mat Cauthon shows up.  Mat says they have strangers in town, and Rand immediately thinks of the black rider on the road.  Mat has seen the man as well.  They think about telling someone, but decide against it.

They learn that a gleeman has arrived for the festival, and the Council has ordered fireworks—if the first peddler of the season ever arrives.  Mat and Rand help Tam unload the casks of cider.

Chapter 2: "Strangers"

As Mat and Rand unload the cart, the Village Council is assembling in the inn's common room.  Once finished with the task, Ewin Finngar appears to tell Rand and Mat about the strangers who arrived in town.  They are the people—a man and a woman—Mat meant to tell Rand about: Lady Moiraine and Lan.  Ewin says Lan is "in her service" and he wears a sword.

Outside, the boys continue to talk about all the happenings of town, when they see a raven staring at them from the roof of the inn.  Mat and Rand both throw rocks at it, but it dodges them and continues to stare.  The Lady Moiraine shows up and the bird screams and flies away.  She talks to Rand, Mat, and Ewin, giving each a coin in exchange for any work she might have of them while she is in town.  Ewin is given a silver penny, but Mat and Rand are given larger silver coins.

Moiraine says she is a collector of stories, and she will talk to them in more detail later.  When she leaves, they see Lan—who has a cloak that changes colors—following her.  Commotion on the street shows that the peddler has finally arrived.

Chapter 3: "The Peddler"

As Padan Fain, the peddler, pulls onto the village green, many of the townsfolk assemble to hear news from the outside.  Perrin Aybara, Rand's other friend, shows up.  Together, they listen to Padan Fain tell a story about a man proclaiming himself to be the Dragon Reborn in Ghealdan.  This causes an uproar from the crowd, so the Village Council calls Padan Fain into the inn so they can question him further. 

Rand, Mat, and Perrin talk about the possibility of war, Aes Sedai, and false Dragons when Nynaeve, with Egwene al'Vere in tow, comes up and scolds them.  They tell her why they were talking about such topics and she storms off to the inn to question the peddler herself. 

After she goes inside, Egwene and Rand talk a bit.  Egwene has her hair braided, which means she is of an age to be married; Rand is also at the marriageable age.  Egwene says she is learning the arts of a Wisdom from Nynaeve, and that she might leave the Two Rivers to be a Wisdom to another town.  Rand thinks the only way to get her to stay is to marry her, but he's not willing to take that step at the moment. 

Perrin tells Mat and Rand that he's seen the black rider, and that Moiraine also gave him a fat silver coin.  Egwene begins to argue about the stranger not being a monster from a gleeman's tale, when the gleeman comes out of the inn.

Chapter 4: "The Gleeman"

The gleeman—feeling huffy for being kicked out of the inn by the Council—comes to talk to Rand and the others.  He is Thom Merrilin, and when he notices a crowd gathering around him, he juggles and tells them what kind of stories he will share.  Moraine appears in the crowd and Thom stops abruptly.  He tells her she won't object to any of the stories he will tell.

At that moment, the inn door's open and the Council and Nynaeve exit.  Thom rushes off to get a brandy.  The Mayor and Nynaeve argue about the strangers—Moraine and Lan—and she storms off again.

Tam tells Rand and the other boys that the town will start a watch, with riders traveling the roads to Deven Ride and Watch Hill.  The boys want to volunteer.  Tam says they are going home, and though Rand argues, he winds up doing as his father says.  Back on the Quarry Road, Tam tells Rand that two other boys saw the black rider, and that he might be a refuge from the war in Ghealdan.  The watch will either find him or scare him away.  Knowing that they have a plan makes Rand feel safer about the whole thing.

My take:

A couple of thoughts on Chapter 1:

First, I love the opening paragraph: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass...".  And I love even more how Robert Jordan started every book in the series in the same format.  The repetition is beautiful and—though simple—helps form a connection through all the books.

Moving on, what is the nature of the long winter?  None of the seals of the Dark One's prison should be broken at this point.  Is the weakening of the seals responsible?  Because he can touch the world quite a bit to be able to manipulate the weather.  Also, later when they use the Eye, green things begin to grow, but then summer lasts until the Bowl of the Winds is used.  So perhaps even the switching from eternal winter to eternal summer was the Dark One's plan all along.  Or was it just him making the best of a bad situation?

Rand thinks to himself that there are more wolves around than usual.  If there are so many of them, what are the chances of Perrin coming into contact with one, and discovering—like Noal—that he has wolfbrother abilities?  I think he would have found out even if he hadn't left and met Elyas.  Remember in The Great Hunt when they travel by Portal Stone and they all see visions?  Perrin said, “We don't have many choices really, do we, Rand? Whatever happens, whatever we do, some things are almost always the same.”

While Tam and Rand are walking down the Quarry Road, I really like how Tam's solidness makes Rand go back on task.  This is the Rand we fell in love with—the innocent farm boy who needs that reassurance of his father.  I think this is also echoed in The Gathering Storm when Rand sees Tam again.  Tam's presence makes Rand relax.  And that relaxation makes him have a sort of panic attack—an attack where he realizes he can't relax, so he lashes out.  Funny how this is what actually led to Rand's epiphany on Dragonmount.  It was always Tam's job to get Rand on track.

Rand thinks of his mother, Kari, who died when he was only five.  Isn't it strange that we don't know the cause of death?  I'm racking my brains, trying to think of any reference to what killed her, and right now, I can't think of a single one.  

We've had multiple discussions about whether Kari was a Darkfriend, and whether it was really her soul at the end of The Eye of the World, but I haven't seen any theories about why, or how, she died.

Rand's ta'veren-ness waxes and wanes as the Pattern weaves.  However, was the Pattern aware of him as a child?  Did it realize he was the Dragon early on and twist and turn events around him?  Something had to have pulled Tam to Dragonmount after the Blood Snows.  It was only chance that led him to finding the baby at all.  And we know, in The Wheel of Time, there are no coincidences.  

Another note on this same topic: how are Rand, Mat, and Perrin the closest friends?  Growing up in the village, there are several other children around their same age.  And we know—since we were once children—that sometimes your best friend is even a year ahead or behind you.  So why were these three boys drawn to one another?  Again, their ta'veren-ness isn't supposed to come into play until Moiraine takes them away from the Two Rivers, but something made the be friends.

If you look at it, Rand lives far from town, and Perrin becomes an apprentice (with a job), so when would they ever have time to spend together? 

Mat and Perrin, I could see them becoming ta'veren later.  But to me, it makes sense that Rand has been ta'veren all his life.

Which brings me back to Kari.  Why wouldn't the Pattern want Rand to grow up with his adopted mother?  What sort of things did he gain by her absence?  Did he need to have a strong male figure only?  Would a mother have pampered him more than he needed—making him softer, unable to do the harsh things he needed to do?  There had to be a reason for her to be taken.

When we read "Ravens" a few weeks ago, there was one part where Egwene thinks of the litany they say about the Forsaken.  Rand brings it up in this chapter:

As much to remind himself as for any other reason, he said by rote, "The Dark One and all of the Forsaken are bound in Shayol Ghul, beyond the Great Blight, bound by the Creator at the moment of Creation, bound until the end of time.  The hand of the creator shelters the world, and the Light shines on us all."

Egwene, when she thinks of it, leaves off the bit about them being bound at the moment of Creation.  Which is funny, because Tam tells the story of how the Forsaken were imprisoned in Shayol Ghul by the Dragon not the Creator.  And if the Forsaken are bound since Creation, bound till the end of time, why do older people frighten children with tales of the Forsaken?  Mat says, "My mother always said the Forsaken would come for me if I didn't mend my ways."

I think people would argue it's the same as how we tell children about Santa Claus, or how we scare them with stories of ghosts.  But the adults don't believe in Santa or ghosts—usually.  In Randland, that prayer is what they all believe.  So it's very contradictory when their threat goes against the natural order of the world, or so they see it.

And finally, for Chapter 1, we have the line by Bran al'Vere: "Sometimes I think Nynaeve is right about…".  This bit of a rant is in regards to Cenn Buie.  We know Nynaeve isn't the best judge of character—but sometimes she knows what she's talking about.  What could she have possibly said about Cenn that Bran thinks she may be right about?

Remember, in her testing for Accepted, Nynaeve sees the Two Rivers where Cenn is the Mayor, and letting the evil new Wisdom rule over the citizens with fear.  Does this image come from Nynaeve's own mind—and whatever she really thought of Cenn Buie—or does it come from the Pattern, by some sort of dream ter'angreal?

I've also heard speculation that this line means Cenn Buie can learn to channel saidin.  That Nynaeve senses the ability in him, or something.  It seems unlikely, I think.  But I do think that if Perrin hadn't come back to the Two Rivers in The Shadow Rising, Cenn could have turned out to be more evil.  When Perrin became their Lord, all the Two Rivers folk—Cenn included—lost a bit of their stubbornness and found someone they could all follow.

One quick word on Chapter 2:

Like in "Ravens," in this chapter we see more ravens acting odd.  When Rand and Mat throw the rock at the bird, it calmly sidesteps their assault.  When Moiraine comes along, the bird screams and flies off, implying that she channeled at it.  But what if that action is what caused the Myrddraal to attack that night?

We've talked about how it's possible that Myrddraal can channel the True Power—and we've seen in the Towers of Midnight prologue that the birds need to be controlled by the True Power in order to report what they saw.  If a Myrddraal was controlling this raven, felt it be hit by an invisible string of Air, it would know that there was an Aes Sedai in the village—if it wasn't close enough to feel her channeling to begin with.  And if it knew an Aes Sedai was there, it probably wanted to act as soon as possible, hence the quick and poorly formed attack parties.

On Padan Fain in Chapter 3:

At the end of the book, we learn about the process used on Padan Fain… that he was distilled.  This made him able to track down Rand, Mat, and Perrin.  However, do you think he was the only Darkfriend to be used in this manner?  Surely the Dark One had dozens of other people, paying close attention to every village in the world.  He would have distilled all of them.  But why is Fain the only one out for revenge?  He wants to kill the Dark One for what was done to him.  

One possibility I see is that the process killed all the others.  Fain only survived because his distilled memories had found the one.  Because of that connection, Fain wasn't killed by the horrible process, and instead it made him a hound.  Just a thought.

And finally, Chapter 4:

Just one thing I want to point out about chapter 4: how bad Thom looks.  He is considered to be arrogant, the Mayor is offended by his attitude, he makes fun of how "travelled" the boys are, the list goes on and on.  Bran himself says, "That man may be fore trouble than he's worth."  And later (in Chapter 8), Lan voices his doubts about the gleeman: "I do not like that man. There is something about him I don't trust."

It seems to me, looking back, that Thom was meant to be a red herring.  If we think of someone leading the Trollocs into the Two Rivers, we don't think of Moiraine, who helped fight, we don't think of Fain, who is familiar to all in the town, we think of the weaselly gleeman who looked down his nose at everyone from the start.

I can't remember if I thought that during my first read—probably not, since my sister read the series first and spoiled a lot of things for me.  But if I had, it would have made his sacrifice at Whitebridge that much more surprising and wonderful.

Okay, we'll wrap things up there.  Sorry for the length; I doubt all will be this long.  That first chapter, in particular, made my brain really think about connections!  Join us next week for more of The Eye of the World, and everyone's favorite Trolloc, Narg!

Welcome back to "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog!  This week, we'll continue our reread, looking at "Dragonmount," the prologue to The Eye of the World.

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

"Dragonmount" Synopsis:

Lews Therin walks down a corridor filled with dead people.  He calls out for his wife, Ilyena, but she doesn't answer.  Suddenly, a man shimmers and solidifies behind Lews Therin.  The man, Elan Morin Tedronai, says he has come for Lews Therin.

The two talk briefly, Lews Therin's madness becoming more and more apparent.  Finally, Elan Morin uses the Dark One's "healing" on Lews Therin.  This makes Lews Therin lucid, and he finally realizes all his family members are dead.  He blames Elan Morin for the crime.  Elan Morin contradicts him, saying Lews Therin is responsible for killing everyone he loved.

Unable to bear the guilt, Lews Therin Travels to an isolated location.  He draws in the One Power, so much, that it burns him out, and sends a bar of fire into the earth.  The surge of Power creates a mountain that stretches into the sky.

Elan Morin appears nearby and promises that their fight is not over.

My take:

This prologue may be my favorite part of the whole series.  The tone, the mood, the atmosphere all blend together to give it a creepy feeling.  We see how insane Lews Therin is, and the devastating cost the world paid to seal up the Dark One.  But we also see the wonderful skills of Robert Jordan.  His writing style really shines in this section.  We see his attention to detail, and the world within the story comes to life instantly.  His words are powerful, and so expressive that they stay with you long after you have put the book down.

The mind-twisting had struck at the core, ignoring peripheral things.

There are no other words for that than beautiful.

Many of the ideas in the prologue we've discussed before.  So I'll just recap a few ideas before moving on.  First, I think it's a funny bit of irony that the first description we get of Elan Morin is that he is "not so tall as Lews Therin."  Their rivalry wasn't born out of the same kind of hatred that Demandred's was, but this is a clear sign that everyone in that Age lived up to the standard of Lews Therin.

I'm also a little surprised at how freely Elan Morin uses the name "Shai'tan."  He says it's not dangerous for him to name the Dark One, but why does he do it so freely?  Isn't it blasphemous for the Forsaken to use his name like that—in an almost familiar way?  Or perhaps Elan Morin is already insane himself by this point, and is already thinking of himself as being the same as the Dark One.

Or, it could be to try to bolster his own spirit.  Really, the Dark One had just suffered a huge blow!  He was resealed in the Bore, cutting off his ability to touch the world completely.  Elan Morin could go in there and talk tough, but could he have backed up all his boasting?  What could the Dark One have done at that point in time?  Absolutely nothing, I think. 

And along those same lines, what of Elan Morin's promise to bring Ilyena back if Lews Therin served the Dark One?  Could the Dark One even be capable of doing that when he's completely sealed?  I doubt it.  Even if the Dark One could access Ilyena's soul—which we talked about in length in the past—I doubt he could have done it then.

The seals begin to weaken as the millennia pass, but I don't think the Dark One could actually influence anything until the first seal was broken at the end of The Eye of the World.  It's then that the first Forsaken are killed—and we know they come back later—so at that point the Dark One must be able to at least grab their souls.  But since the time gap between their deaths and their rebirth is so long, perhaps the Dark One's strength wasn't even able to bring their souls back until—according to the Wheel of Time Wiki—at least a year later.

And this leads us to another idea: is Ishamael really caught in the seals? 

For a very long time, I thought Ishamael's appearance in "Dragonmount" was an illusion, a projection of himself.  We seen later (Chapter 47, "More Tales of the Wheel"), that an image of Ba'alzamon forced the Myrddraal into Shadar Logoth after Rand and the others.  This would imply that Ishamael is not completely free from the Bore at this point in time.

So how does his sealing and release work?  It's been hinted several places that Ishamael had a hand in many of the more horrible plots that happened over the past 3,000 years: running the Trolloc Wars, forming the Black Ajah, making Artur Hawkwing turn against the Aes Sedai, manipulating Jain Farstrider.  So, during these moments, is he completely free from the Bore, or is he able to make a projection of himself?  Or there is the third option of influencing them in their dreams.

During the prologue, he seems to be there physically: "he stepped carefully, handling his cloak fastidiously to avoid brushing the dead."  He wouldn't bother holding up his cloak if he wasn't really there.

However, even in The Great Hunt, Ishamael seems unable to show up in a physical form:

Prologue

 

The figure of a man floated in the air above the Myrddraal, the hem of his blood-red robe hanging a span over the Halfman's head. Masked in blood-red, too. Would the Great Lord of the Dark appear to them as a man? And masked, besides?

This is one of our first real hints that "Ba'alzamon" is not all he claims.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We'll talk about that when we get to The Great Hunt.

So, these examples show Ishamael influencing the world, but no being able to do it physically.  However, in "Dragonmount" he seems to be there in the flesh.  Is this a consistency error?  Or is there something more to it?

I think we'll have to come back to that one at another time.  There's just too much speculation and not enough information.

Another thing that makes me wonder is Elan Morin's line, "Yes Betrayer of Hope.  So have men named me, just as they named you Dragon, but unlike you I embrace the name."

From the sound of this, it seems like Lews Therin is not fond of accepting the name Dragon.  We've never seen an instance in the story—that I can recall—where Lews Therin didn't seek fame and recognition for his deeds.  So why would he not want to be called Dragon?  What kind of prophecies did they have in the Age of Legends?  We don't really know much about what they believed, what they feared, what they looked forward to.

But there must have been something that turned Lews Therin off to the idea of being the Dragon.  Perhaps they did have a prophecy that dealt with the Dragon.  The Aiel were called People of the Dragon, and they had to be called that before Lews Therin.  From what we see, the Aiel served the Aes Sedai for generations and generations.  Lews Therin wasn't the first of the channelers—only the most powerful of that time.  So why would the Aiel be named for him?  That seems unlikely; therefore, they would have been named after some prophecy.  And if there were prophecies, or Foretellings, that said the Aiel needed to be named that—and we see that come into play when they serve the Dragon only, not any other Aes Sedai, in The Shadow Rising—then there were probably prophecies about the Dragon.

Lews Therin was most likely picked as the Dragon because of his accomplishments.  But, we saw that many of the Forsaken were nearly as accomplished.  Could it have been likely for one of them—probably Demandred—to have been named the Dragon instead?  How different the world would have been if that had happened.

And the last thing I wonder about in this section is Lews Therin's insanity.  Elan Morin says the Dark One's counterstroke caused the Hundred Companions to go insane.  We can assume that Lews Therin also suffers from that same insanity.  However, why weren't all the male channelers struck instantly insane?  Why was it only those near the Bore?

We see when Rand begins to channel, that the taint comes on slowly.  The more he touches saidin the more the taint affects him.  This seems to be true for male channelers during the breaking as well:

The Shadow Rising

Chapter 26, "The Dedicated"

 

“Can we trust Kodam and his fellows, Solinda?”

 

“We must, Oselle. They are young and inexperienced, but barely touched by the taint, and... And we have no choice.”

I would say that those who where around the Bore felt the backlash immediately, due to their close proximity to the event.  Or perhaps because they were all channeling at the Bore when the Dark One struck back.  If they were connected to saidin as saidin was tainted, the poison of the taint could have swarmed into them all at once.

So, when Lews Therin is "healed" by Elan Morin, his insanity goes away.  He is completely lucid and remembers everything he did.  Elan Morin says it is not true Healing, but it seems to do the trick.  Was it temporary?  Did the effects of it wear off?

Lews Therin is mad when he starts appearing in Rand's head.  Many attribute that to Rand's own insanity.  However, I think it could be left over from the real Lews Therin.

Elan Morin did heal Lews Therin—he was perfectly rational at the end of their discussion.  However, confronting his guilt and the terrible deeds he did could have made Lews Therin insane all over again.

He was alone, as alone as a man could be while still alive, yet he could not escape the memory.  The eyes pursued him through the endless caverns of his mind.  He could not hide from them.  His children's eyes.  Ilyena's eyes.

That sounds pretty insane.  The torment of his actions made his mind break all over again. 

There is still so much we could talk about in regards to "Dragonmount."  As I said, it's Robert Jordan's writing at its finest.  But, this has gone on long enough for today.  Next week, we'll start with the beginning of Rand's story, and see how far we can get (probably no more than three or four chapters).  Let me know if you have anything to add to what I pointed out—if I forgot something or completely misinterpreted something, I'd love to hear.  Thanks for reading!

Welcome back to another edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  I hope you all waited with anticipation for the announcement I have for this week.  So here it is, without further ado, "WoT If?" will be starting a complete series re-read!

With the series finally completed, now is the perfect time to start over, looking at everything with the ending already known.  There will be clues we missed before that we can pick up on now.  There will be plot points that seemed insignificant, but within the bigger picture, will make more sense.  We will still have theories along the way, so this is only a slight change in the format.  And of course, I encourage all of you to re-read with me.

But don't worry if you don't have the time for a re-read.  I'll give a brief synopsis over which chapters I'll be covering, so you'll be able to follow along without difficulty.

Before we start, I do want to say that there will still be SPOILERS!  With the ending in sight, much of what I point out could allude to things that happen in A Memory of Light, so keep that in mind as you read.  Don't continue if you don't want to be spoiled.

Before I jump into The Eye of the World, I want to say a few things.  I'm in love with The Wheel of Time.  It's one of the greatest passions in my life.  I have been consecutively re-reading the series since I first started in 1999.  I own five copies of The Eye of the World: a trade paperback edition signed by Robert Jordan, two paperbacks (both filled with bookmarks marking important passages), the first volume of the Japanese paperback, and the first volume of the young adult version released in 2002 (From the Two Rivers).  Why do I bring all this up?  Well, mostly because I like to brag—especially about my Japanese version—but mostly because it helps illustrate my starting point.

Where would be the best place to start a re-read?  With New Spring, which is chronologically the first book in the series?  I thought about that.  However, for me, it's not the start of the story.  The story—Rand's, Mat's, Perrin's story—begins in The Eye of the World.  So, that's where I want to start.  We will get to New Spring.  Perhaps we'll look at it in between Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams—when the novella length story was published.  Perhaps we'll read it before that.  Perhaps we will wait until the very end.  It would be nice to have the "tangent" tales read all at one: The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (the Big White Book, to some), River of Souls, and "The Strike at Shayol Ghul."  Those stories, as well as New Spring, are supplements to the main plot lines, not necessarily part of the main plot lines.  New Spring, especially, is better read with some background knowledge about the world, the White Tower, and Aes Sedai.

So, with that settled, there's still another question in regards to the "beginning."  The young adult version I mentioned before—From the Two Rivers—includes a new prologue written by Mr. Jordan.  I'm not sure how many fans out there have read this new bit of the story.  For me, it was the reason I bought From the Two Rivers.  The new prologue, titled "Ravens," takes place a few years before the first chapter of The Eye of the World.  And one interesting fact is that this prologue leads into the original prologue, "Dragonmount."  In the From the Two Rivers version, Tam gathers up the children and tells them a bit of background information on Lews Therin—which leads into the story of "Dragonmount."

I debated with myself whether or not to include the pre-prologue.  In the end, I decided to begin with it.  It is the very beginning of the Dragon Reborn's story—though it's told through Egwene's point-of-view.

I've rambled enough, so let's jump into the story!

"Ravens" Synopsis:

This prologue is told from Egwene al'Vere's point-of-view.  She is nine-years-old and is helping to carry water during the sheep sheering event.  Everyone from the Two Rivers—excluding those from Taren Ferry—participates in the sheering.

Egwene has ambitions to be the best water-carrier ever—her ambition deriving from being promoted to the position a whole year early.  As she circles the gathered Two Rivers folk—letting them drink water from her bucket—she is keeping an eye out for Perrin Aybara or Mat Cauthon.  She wants to follow them to Rand al'Thor.  She has heard people say that she and Rand will eventually be married, so she wants to learn more about him.

Throughout the day, Egwene spies ravens up in the trees, acting curious.  She thinks it is weird that they seem to be looking at the people, not the food laid out on the tables.  She remembers they are said to be the Dark One's eyes, but tries to concentrate on her task. 

After encountering a lot of people from the village, Egwene finally stumbles upon Rand and his friends.  She eavesdrops a bit, until all the boys are summoned to Master al'Vere—Egwene's father.  Egwene follows.  The boys were promised a story, and Tam al'Thor—Rand's father—tells them a little about Lews Therin Telamon's strike on Shayol Ghul, and how he sealed the Dark One away.  Upon hearing this, Egwene is confused because she knows Lews Therin was responsible for the Breaking.  She thinks Master al'Thor has the story wrong.

The boys are dispersed, and Egwene sees another raven—staring at her.  It flies away, and she goes back to focusing on the being the best water-carrier.  As the next few years pass, Egwene gets promoted to helping with the food tables a year early as well.  This starts her goal of being the youngest girl to ever have her hair braided.

My take:

This new prologue is a device used to get young adult readers acclimated to the world within The Wheel of Time in a more natural way.  Because of that, we get a lot of contextual information—what a Wisdom is, what superstitions they believe, bits about the Forsaken and Aes Sedai.  This helps with the overabundance of information at the very beginning of The Eye of the World.  I remember on my first read through, even the concept of a Wisdom was hard to figure out.

Because of that, it could be the best place to start the series.  However, there is also a counter argument.

With this section being from Egwene's point-of-view, and the next prologue (the regular prologue) being from Lews Therin's (with a bit of omniscient at the end), when we get to Rand in the first chapter we might be a bit overwhelmed.  With the original story, we know Rand is the main character.  Someone reading "Ravens" first might think Egwene is the main character.  Egwene is definitely important in the series, but ultimately, this is Rand's tale.

Regardless, I was happy for this extra information.  There's quite a bit we learn about Egwene, Nynaeve, and Rand from this prologue.  Of course, it's only foreshadowing if you've read the rest of the series already—or at least the first book.  New readers wouldn't pick up on any of it.

1.  Egwene makes mention that her oldest sister—Berowyn—lost her husband and child to breakbone fever the last fall.  Berowyn says she is glad that Egwene also didn't die.  Later in the book (Chapter 21, "Listen to the Wind") we learn that Nynaeve had Healed Egwene with the Power.  Nynaeve says that Mistress Barran—the Wisdom at the time—had things under control, but Nynaeve believed Egwene was dying.  But here, we see that the fever claimed at least two lives.  So, it's quite possible Egwene could have died without Nynaeve intervention.  

There's also a brief mention of Nynaeve being able to tell it's Egwene without looking—a residue of her using the Power on Egwene.  With it mentioned here, it's not such a big shock when Moiraine mentions it later.

2.  We learn more of Nynaeve's family details.  She was recently orphaned—and taken in by the Wisdom as an apprentice.  But only after Mistress Barran's current apprentice died from a "mysterious illness."  Again, this is more foreshadowing about how many of the Two Rivers girls can channel.

3.  We see that Egwene has a strong desire to leave the Two Rivers.  With the beginning part of the story focusing on Rand, we don't know about Egwene's ambitions to leave the Two Rivers.  Rand is completely shocked when she wants to accompany them when they leave.  This addition helps us get used to her decision.  We see that she had the desire all along; it was only Rand who failed to notice it in her.

4.  Mat tells his friends that he will "rescue an Aes Sedai" who will "reward" him.  This is the first introduction to Mat being… Mat.  To be honest, I hated Mat at the beginning of the story.  I thought it was awful the way he treated Rand after learning he could channel.  Mat was so selfish and uncaring.  It wasn't until The Dragon Reborn that I fell in love with Mat.  

Looking back on scenes like this, with the knowledge of where Mat winds up and who he turns into, makes me so happy. 

5.  And one major question: why does Tam decide to tell the story of Lews Therin?  Lews Therin's tale, and the link to Lews Therin's death on Dragonmount, had to remind Tam of where he found Rand.  Tam knows so much of the world, yet he was unable to recognize the fact that his adopted son was the one mentioned in the prophecies.  It seems so bizarre that he wouldn't make the connection, especially since this addition to the story makes us know that he knows.  Yet in Knife of Dreams, Tam needs confirmation from Perrin that Rand is the Dragon Reborn:

Chapter 29, "The Last Knot"

 

[Tam said,] “Taim said Rand sent him. He said Rand is the Dragon Reborn.” There was a touch of questioning in that, perhaps a hope for denial, perhaps a demand to know why Perrin had kept silent.

Also, when Tam is telling the story, Egwene thinks about how Tam says it with a sense of knowledge; she thinks, he tells it "almost as if he had been there."  Could it be possible that Tam is someone important reborn?  Maybe one of the Hundred Companions?  That would be an interesting twist.

If you haven't had a chance to read "Ravens" yet, I really suggest giving it a try.  It does give some interesting insight to Egwene.

We'll end the blog here for today.  Next week, we'll look at the next prologue, "Dragonmount."  Please feel free to discuss any of the ideas I mentioned, or perhaps some I left out.  Thanks for reading!

Hello, and welcome back to another exciting edition of "WoT If?", Dragonmount's weekly theory blog.  This time, our topic is about the nature of the fight between Rand and the Dark One in A Memory of Light.  But first, please remember:

SPOILER WARNING.  This will include content from A Memory of Light.  Please DO NOT read this if you have not completed the book.

Rand has a plan when he goes to Shayol Ghul to fight the Dark One.  We know from other sources that Rand's ideas of the Dark One's nature are far off.  Verin says:

The Gathering Storm

Chapter 39, "A Visit from Verin Sedai"

 

"The Chosen are predictable, but the Great Lord is anything but. Even after decades of study, I can't be certain exactly what he wants or why he wants it. I only know that this battle isn't being fought the way that al'Thor assumes it will be."

And we see Verin is correct when we actually get to the battle between Rand and the Dark One.  Rand is taken outside the Pattern, and their duel is not physical, or even really combative.  More than anything, they try to exert their will strongly enough to overcome the other.  And in this way, would Rand's goal of actually killing the Dark One even work?

Many people within the series agree it's a dumb idea.  First Moridin brings it up.

The Gathering Storm

Chapter 15, "A Place to Begin"

 

Rand stood. Moridin eyed him warily, but did not get up.

 

"There is a way to win, Moridin," Rand said. "I mean to kill him. Slay the Dark One. Let the Wheel turn without his constant taint."

 

Moridin gave no reaction. He was still staring at the flames. "We are connected," Moridin finally said. "That is how you came here, I suspect, though I do not understand our bond myself. I doubt you can understand the magnitude of the stupidity in your statement."

And Moiraine agrees with the Forsaken.

A Memory of Light

Chapter 16, "A Silence Like Screaming"

 

“I’m going to kill the Dark One,” Rand said. “I’m not just going to seal up the Dark One, I’m going to end him.”

 

“I thought you had grown up while I was away,” Moiraine said.

…

“The Dark One is beyond killing,” Moiraine said.

 

“I think I can do it,” Rand said. “I remember what Lews Therin did, and there was a moment … a brief moment … It can happen, Moiraine. I’m more confident that I can do that than I am that I could seal the Dark One away.” That was true, though he had no real confidence that he could manage either.

 

Questions. So many questions. Shouldn’t he have some answers by now?

 

“The Dark One is part of the Wheel,” Moiraine said.

 

“No. The Dark One is outside the Pattern,” Rand countered. “Not part of the Wheel at all.”

 

“Of course the Dark One is part of the Wheel, Rand,” Moiraine said. “We are the threads that make up the Pattern’s substance, and the Dark One affects us. You cannot kill him. That is a fool’s task.”

 

“I have been a fool before,” Rand said. “And I shall be one again. At times, Moiraine, my entire life—all that I’ve done—feels like a fool’s task. What is one more impossible challenge? I’ve met all the others. Perhaps I can accomplish this one too.”

And when we finally get to the scenes in A Memory of Light where Rand and the Dark One have direct interaction, the fight does go differently than most of us suspected.  In a way, they play a game of "What If?"  The Dark One shows Rand the way the world would be if he was in control.  Rand responds with different ways he would make the world.  They go back and forth, using threads of the Pattern to create a reality around them.

The interesting point is when Rand creates a world where there is no Dark One.  We see that without the Dark One, without evil, the world becomes a different sort of twisted place.  Let's look at the ending of that scene.

A Memory of Light

Chapter 37, "The Last Battle"

 

Rand looked into Elayne’s eyes, looked into them deeply. A shadow lurked back there, behind them. Oh, it was an innocent shadow, but a shadow nonetheless. It was like … like that …

 

Like that shadow behind the eyes of someone who had been Turned to the Dark One.

 

Rand jumped to his feet and stumbled backward. “What have you done here?” he shouted into the sky. “Shai’tan! Answer me!”

 

Elayne cocked her head. She wasn’t afraid. Fear did not exist in this place. “Shai’tan? I swear I remember that name. It has been so long. I get forgetful sometimes.”

 

“SHAI’TAN!” Rand bellowed.

 

I HAVE DONE NOTHING, ADVERSARY. The voice was distant. THIS IS YOUR CREATION.

 

“Nonsense!” Rand said. “You’ve changed her! You’ve changed them all!”

 

DID YOU THINK THAT REMOVING ME FROM THEIR LIVES WOULD LEAVE THEM UNALTERED?

 

The words thundered through Rand. Aghast, he stepped away as Elayne rose, obviously concerned for him. Yes, he saw it now, the thing behind her eyes. She was not herself … because Rand had taken from her the ability to be herself.

 

I TURN MEN TO ME, Shai’tan said. IT IS TRUE. THEY CANNOT CHOOSE GOOD ONCE I HAVE MADE THEM MINE IN THAT WAY. HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT, ADVERSARY?

 

IF YOU DO THIS, WE ARE ONE.

 

“No!” Rand screamed, holding his head in his hand, falling to his knees. “No! The world would be perfect without you!”

 

PERFECT. UNCHANGING. RUINED. DO THIS, IF YOU WISH, ADVERSARY. IN KILLING ME, I WOULD WIN.

 

NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, I WILL WIN.

 

Rand screamed, curling up as the Dark One’s next attack washed over him. The nightmare Rand had created exploded outward, ribbons of light spraying away like streaks of smoke.

 

The darkness around him shook and trembled.

 

YOU CANNOT SAVE THEM.

 

The Pattern—glowing, vibrant—wrapped around Rand again. The real Pattern. The truth of what was happening. In creating his vision of a world without the Dark One, he had created something horrible. Something awful. Something worse than would have been before.

 

The Dark One attacked again.

It seems that without the threat of evil, the population doesn't have anything to make them strong, anything to fight against.  That changes them into mindless robots.  They are unable to make choices—they no longer have free will.  The Dark One even points out how it is the same to remove all their good qualities to remove all their bad.

However, look at how easily the Dark One persuades Rand that this is not the right course of action.  It seems a little too neat.  The example fits in entirely too well with what the Dark One says he wants.  Would the Dark One really have surrendered to being killed if this was the outcome?  I highly doubt it.

That leads to a possible conclusion: the Dark One is tricking Rand.  Rand is ta'veren.  He is the Champion for the Creator.  But he is not the Creator.  The Dark One, trapped outside the Pattern, may have the ability to weave threads of the Pattern, but can we be certain that Rand is able to copy that ability?  Can we be certain that it is indeed Rand's vision, and not another of the Dark One's?

There has been some speculation by fans already that this was just another ploy by the Dark One to save himself.  It's reverse psychology, of sorts.  If the Dark One says, "Yes, that's a fine plan," naturally Rand will not do it. 

Or, if the Dark One himself didn't create that vision, could it have been the actual Pattern?  Would the Pattern get out of balance if the Dark One were killed?  It would even take the side of the Shadow to keep itself preserved.  So, it seems plausible it could be either the Dark One or the Pattern.

Okay, now for the argument.  The epilogue of A Memory of Light shows Rand being able to light his pipe with his will.  This is very similar to how he and the Dark One dueled.  They both used their will to make weaves form a different future for the Pattern.  Rand seems to have that ability now that he's in the real world.  This would suggest he was actually weaving the threads outside the Pattern.

Regardless if Rand was the creator of that one vision, we cannot know for certain if the Dark One tampered with it, or added in his own threads to make the people seem changed. 

From this, I think we can argue that Rand was manipulated into not killing the Dark One.  Most likely, I think, by the Dark One himself.  Because in this scenario, it's assumed that all evil, all bad things, derive from the Dark One.  That's completely illogical.  Even without the Dark One, there would still be accidents, people would stub their toes and curse, plants would die from drought or from insects.  Greed, ambition, selfishness are not necessarily evil traits.  They would still be in abundance if the Dark One were not influencing the world.  The Creator, who made all things, had to be responsible for allowing bad things to happen.

To me, this shows that Rand could have killed the Dark One, and the world would have survived without him.  It might have even broken the Wheel—as we've talked about in past blogs—and made time linear.  However, Rand's decision seems to be forced upon him; Rand wouldn't willingly give the Dark One something he wanted.

Was it the correct decision?  Probably in this case.  Rand had been guided to this decision by many people—good and bad—and perhaps even the Pattern itself.  But that doesn't mean he wasn't tricked into making this choice.  Maybe in the next Third Age, he will decide to go through with killing the Dark One anyway.

That's all for this edition.  Next week, I have an announcement that will change the flow of "WoT If?" a little bit.  So join us for the surprise!  Thanks for reading.