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