Well, one thing it does do, is set Egwene's character as the go-girl! It also mentions the others from the Two Rivers who play such a large part in the series, thought it's nowhere near as effective as the first chapter of EotW, where you feel the Myrdraal's hatred ...

I'm into Sanderson territory now, on the first of the final trilogy, and I thought I should take the time to mention this, that the genus Mandragora and the plant Mandrake seems to hold quite a commanding position in the series. To wit: Moiraine's Warder is Lan Mandragoran The dreadful duo of Elayne and Nynaeve encounter a sedative plant extract called forkroot; the mandrake plant's root is forked in a humanoid shape that has all sorts of folklore connotations. And other things that carry the mandrake resonance. Has anyone else mentioned this? The series has been around for three decades; I expect someone even better versed in folklore would've mentioned it a lot earlier. Anyway, here's some mandrake references I dug up on the InterWebs: https://theherbprof.com/mandrake-the-enigmatic-medicinal-plant/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandragora_(genus) https://www.britannica.com/plant/mandrake-Mandragora-genus https://www.ancientherbswisdom.com/mandrake/ https://nightshadefamily.com/mandrake/ Any comments?

The Coplins and the Congars generally get very little respect, but nobody either assaults them, or is assaulted by them - the only exception being their general bootlicking behaviour when the Whitecloaks turn up and they collaborate with them.

in TGH at the end, Rand finds himself fighting against Baalzamon above Falme, where a legion of Whitecloaks engage in battle against the Seanchan occupation. His Sheathing the Sword occurs after he realizes that his battle with Baalzamon mirrors the battle below in him Falme, and saving Egwene from a lifetime of slavery to the Seanchan depends on him being willing to sacrifice himself. When I was much younger, I read a story about King Arthur and someone else, where King Arthur and the other person are playing a game of chess (or near-enough) while their forces are fighting, and the game of chess reflects the battle outside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dream_of_Rhonabwy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ywain As always, the Matter of Britain provides still inspiration for authors.

I'm getting into Yet Another Re-Read, and am enjoying it.