I grew up in a family that loved hiking and backpacking. I’ve done it in bad weather as well as good, in rain, and even in snow, and there is something uniquely miserable about walking all day in the rain knowing that ahead of you is a damp night spent sleeping on the ground after a re-hydrated meal. Or, in the case of Rand al’Thor and Matrim Cauthon, no meal at all. After this section, I think I’ll take those weird freeze-dried meals over nothing any day, and at least I had a tent to pitch. And no Evil Forces hunting me.
Once some raccoons got into our tent and ate my sister’s toothpaste. Does that count?
Welcome back to Week Ten of Reading the Wheel of Time! This week we’re trudging down the Caemlyn road with Mat and Rand in chapters 31-33, trying to steer clear of both the Darkfriends who want to catch them and the regular folk who think our boys just might be the bad guys themselves. Mat continues to act more and more suspiciously and Rand… well, let’s recap first, shall we?
In the beginning of Chapter 31, Rand and Mat are on the dusty road, looking for a way through a hedge that lines the road, apparently to hide in it. Touching a scarf he is wearing around his mouth and nose to keep the dust out, Rand remembers the farmer who gave it to him, a good though fearful man, and how touched Rand had been by such rare kindness. Rand and Mat hide in the hedge, unsure if the passing horsemen are looking for them or not.
The narration flashes back to the frenzied departure from Whitebridge as Rand remembers the early days of their travels. Always looking behind them for a Fade to appear, Rand and Mat traveled on foot and occasionally in the back of a passing wagon, sleeping out doors and often going hungry. Once again Rand suggested selling Mat’s dagger to pay for food and lodging on their travels, and once again Mat became uncharacteristically angry about it, accusing Rand of being eager to sell something that Mat rightly found and suggesting Rand sell his sword instead. Rand pointed out that the sword was a gift from his father, and he would never ask Mat to sell something that had belonged to his father. The dagger made more sense to sell than a sword, anyway, or so Rand felt. But Mat pointed out that a farmer wouldn’t want—or be able to pay for—a jeweled dagger anymore than a sword, and Rand had to concede the point.
Wanting to save what little money they did have for emergencies, Rand and Mat either went hungry or occasionally worked on someone’s farm in exchange for food and shelter, but Mat proved as suspicious of the locals as the locals were of Mat and Rand, which made things difficult, and Rand also feared wasting any time not moving and staying ahead of the Myrddraal. Then one night, in an attempt to distract from a farmer’s daughter who kept trying to flirt with Rand, he brought out Thom’s flute and began to play it. When Mat also juggled for the family the boys discovered that they were a big hit, which gave Rand the idea to preform at inns in exchange for supper and a bed. After that things were better—until they reached the town of Four Kings.
Rand didn’t like the look of the drab, dirty town where the Caemlyn road and another highway meet, but neither of the boys liked the idea of going hungry and sleeping outdoors again, so they checked at all the inns until they come to one, The Dancing Cartman, which did not already have entertainment. It was not a particularly pleasant place, and the innkeeper, Saml Hake, was a greasy and violent man, who hit a serving maid hard enough to knock her down just for contradicting him. Hake agreed to let them perform in exchange for food and some beds in the storeroom, but as Rand and Mat took turns playing and juggling, Rand became suspicious of Hake and the way he eyed the boy’s possessions, especially Rand’s heron-marked sword. Mat noticed too, and the boys were aware that the two bouncers Hake employed could make easy work of them, even breaking down the door of the storeroom if they attempted to bar it while they slept. Unable to slip away because of the demand for their performance and Mat’s hungry belly, they continued to play, hoping for a chance to present itself. Meanwhile, Rand noticed a man, too fancy and well-dressed to belong in the crowd at The Dancing Cartman, who was also watching him. He and Mat both believed they had seen the man somewhere before.
When they finally got a break for dinner, Rand overheard the servers and cooks talking in the kitchen about the well-dressed man, and, becoming ever more suspicious, went outside to look at the man’s carriage. He recognized the look of the thing; it was just like the merchant’s carriages that he saw in Whitebridge. The name inscribed on the side read Howal Gode.
The rest of the night passed like a nightmare for Rand. Aware that he could not escape from Hake and now convinced, too, that Howal Gode was a Darkfriend who had followed them after they escaped the Myydral, he was forced to keep playing, trapped, until he and Mat were escorted by Hake and his men to the storeroom to sleep. Rand expected to be attacked in the hallway before they ever reached the storeroom, but Hake apparently wanted to be cautious around his armed guests; he just eyed the sword again and left. Unable to lock the door form the inside, Rand found some wedges to stick under it as he and Mat struggled vainly to escape through the barred window. But despite carefully using a crowbar and hiding the sound of it under the rumble of thunder from a storm outside, they were unable to get the bars open.
Just then they heard Gode’s voice outside, demanding to come in and talk to them. He insisted that Hake and his men would sleep soundly all night, and urged Rand and Mat to stop running from Gode’s “master” and accept their fate. He told them that they were already marked as belonging to the The Great Lord of the Dark, and promising them “[l]ife everlasting, and power beyond dreams.” When the boys still refused, Gode’s threats turned uglier and he began to force the door open. Rand, meanwhile, found himself panicking, desperate for a way out as Mat suggested that they might have to surrender, that there was no way out.
The words repeated in Rand’s ears, his panic building, and suddenly a bright flash of lightning flung him across the room. After recovering from a daze, Rand saw that the window and outer wall had been smashed by the lightning strike, while Mat was half-blinded by the light. There was no sign of Gode as the two escaped out into the storm, but Rand saw bodies buried under the rubble of the destroyed wall.
When Chapter 33 opens, Rand and Mat are hitching a ride with a farmer named Hyam Kinch. Rand notes that he is feeling better, after being suddenly sick, and he talks to Mat about how Mat’s eyes are feeling. Mat says they don’t hurt much anymore. A group of well-armored horsemen pass them, and when Rand asks, the farmer explains that they are the Queen’s Guard. When their ways eventually part, Hyam lets the boys know that they are two days away from Caemlyn, then hesitantly offers them the opportunity to stay and rest at his farm. He has clearly noticed that the boys are in some kind of trouble and is worried about someone finding them; he also seems concerned about Rand’s illness. But Mat is instantly suspicious, and rude, too, and the man drives off. Mat apologizes to Rand, worried about his friend’s health, but explains that he just can’t shake the feeling that everyone is after them. Still, Rand agrees that they need to keep moving, and casts his mind back to the escape from the Dancing Cartman.
Rand helped Mat, practically blinded by the lightning, navigate the darkness and the storm, until they found some bushes to shelter under and Rand immediately had another Ba’alzamon dream, in which he saw the burned Gode and Ba’alzamon “marked” Rand as his with a blast of fire. When Rand woke his face was hot and Mat was dreaming too, screaming “he took my eyes!”
In the morning Rand lead Mat down the road and eventually they were given a ride by a farmer named Alpert Mull. He is the man who gave them the scarves, and Rand is touched by the kindness. That night they paid for lodging and food, not wanting to draw attention to themselves, and in the morning Mat’s eyes were a little better. Rand also felt good, and more optimistic, thinking how odd it was that he was actually looking forward to being back in the safety of Moiraine and Lan’s company. But over breakfast they were accosted by a well-dressed young man named Paitr, and his nervous interest in them mades both Mat and Rand highly suspicious. When Paitr tried to stop them from leaving Rand punched him in the face, and Paitr cursed them in the name of the Great Lord of the Dark.
Again they fled, getting rides when they could, and eventually arriving at another inn. This time they tried offering their performance again, but Rand found himself feeling very sick, reaching the point of collapse and only half-way understanding what was happening around him. Eventually he found himself hauled away by Mat to settle in the stables. Mat explained that the innkeeper didn’t want anyone to know someone in his inn was sick, and Mat parlayed that into a place to stay in the stables and some food, in exchange for discretion.
Rand alternated between shaking with cold and flashes of fever as Mat looked after him, and fell into nightmare dreams of his friends, looking like corpses and accusing him of abandoning him, or threatening that the Dark One will have Rand for his own. Finally he saw Tam, who only shook his head as Rand begged to be told the truth about himself.
He awoke to Mat answering the question Rand had been begging of Tam. “You’re Rand al’Thor, that’s who you are, with the ugliest face and the thickest head in the Two Rivers.” Mat was pleased to see that Rand’s fever had broken, and Rand slept more calmly after that, until another newcomer woke him. The well-dressed woman asked if Rand was sick and offered help as a healer, but when she got close to the boys she pulled a dagger and tried to stab Mat. But Rand warned his friend in time and Mat dodged the blade, putting the Shadar Logoth dagger to the woman’s throat. He wanted to kill her, but Rand stopped him. They retreated, and shortly after found a ride with a farmer, Hyam Kinch.
* * *
Well, that was certainly confusing. I had quite a challenge just doing the recap this week, because, honestly, I could not quite figure out how the timeline of these chapters work. I think what is happening here is a flashback within a flashback, and I can honestly not tell why you would do that to your readers! One flashback makes sense; my expectation is that when we come back to Rand and Mat on the road in the beginning of Chapter 21, chronologically we are at around the same point as when Perrin and Egwene are being interviewed by Captain Bornhald. Then we flash back to everything that happened before that point. But the second flashback baffled me. In addition to confusing the heck out of the timeline (and can I just say they travel in so many carts and stay at so many inns, it’s already difficult enough without any flashbacks at all) it also takes the teeth completely out of a dramatic moment. The whole chapter was beautifully wrought, the description of the town like an old western right before the outlaws show up, the building tension as Rand begins to suspect first Hake, then the well-dressed stranger, the discomfiting counter-point of Mat’s behavior. And then it all crescendos with Gode pounding at the door and Rand’s panic, and the perfect way his thoughts are presented There’s no way out! A way out! And then BAM! Rand just summoned lightning! Mat is blinded! There are bodies in the rubble and they’re running out into the storm. What is going to happen next?
Oh a wagon. The same wagon as the beginning of Chapter 31, right? No, a different wagon and a different farmer? I guess the boys got away okay, and though I still want to know how, I’m not really worried about them so much anymore.
It’s like suddenly letting all the air out of a balloon you’ve just worked hard to blow up.
All this is to say that I think it would have been much better, from a technical point of view, not to add the second flashback and just take us straight through chronologically until we get back to the opening of Chapter 31. And I don’t think it was a good idea to break up the action from the escape from Four Kings. However, I do like the overall structure of this section very much. In the earlier chapters with Perrin, Egwene, and Elyas, all the momentum of the story happened while the party was moving; he flight from the ravens, hiding from and and then fighting the Children of the Light, etc. And then when Elyas stops them from for the night, there is a lot of talking, sharing knowledge and stories, and a lot of personal musing, at least for Perrin. In contrast, Rand and Mat’s journey consists of long, plodding descriptions of walking on the dusty road while looking over their shoulders for pursuit and being looked at suspiciously by a lot of farmers. Oh, and riding in wagons. Don’t forget those.
But then Rand and Mat stop somewhere and that is where the drama finds them, be it a creepy innkeeper, a flirtatious farmer’s daughter, or the Darkfriend lady with her smoking knife.
At least we can finally be sure which of the boys is the Dragon Reborn, eh? If I had any doubts left, Rand’s sickness after the lightning strike certainly puts them to rest. I really enjoyed that section, not only for the dramatic irony of knowing, as a reader, what was going on even though Rand doesn’t have the information I have, but also because it gave a bit of a different perspective on what’s going on with Matt. Whatever Mordeth, or that dagger, is doing to him, and despite all his anger and suspicion of everyone, Mat’s loyalty to Rand hasn’t really come into question. The two stick together, and when Rand is in trouble, we see Mat be an attentive and caring friend. I still don’t know what’s going on with the guy, but this all has me thinking again about the role that fear and distrust seem to be play in doing the Dark One’s work.
The farmer, Mull, is a really good example of the way fear is dividing good people from each other. His words show that he is a good man, that he wants to help them more but doesn’t feel that he can risk it. Probably a lot of the farmers and town locals that Rand and Mat would have been friendly and eager to help once upon a time, and their fear puts the boys in even more danger, depriving them of any kind of refuge. It also increases the chances that an unsuspecting bystander could be tricked into giving the boys up, since the Darkfriends seem ready to spread any rumor.
But getting back to Mat, it isn’t as though he is being unreasonably wary or fearful, although he handles those feelings badly at times, glaring at people and generally drawing attention with his moodiness. It certainly seems reasonable to Rand, which is why he doesn’t suspect anything is actually off. I mean, as I am reading I’m yelling at him “What did Moiraine say about Mordeth’s treasure, you idiot!” but that’s not really fair of me. Rand’s got a lot of things on his mind, and hasn’t consumed nearly as much fiction as I have. My point here, anyway, is that it’s possible that the terror of their situation is actually affecting whatever magic weirdness is going on with Mat, exacerbating his condition. He sounds so much more like himself when he’s talking to Rand while Rand is sick than he has since they escaped Shadar Logoth. I am very very curious to get more information about this.
Also I was not prepared for the number of human people in this section who actually are Darkfriends. The way that insult has been bandied about since Chapter One (usually in the direction of our protagonists) led me to assume that most people were just on a witch hunt, but I guess they do have some reason to be so paranoid. I even made a similar assumption about Rand and Mat—I thought that the incident with Paitr was going to be a fake out, not that he was actually going to be an agent of Ba’alzamon! Looks like our boys’ instincts have improved a lot since they left home.
It’s interesting that Mat and Rand ended up together because they are both ticking time bombs right now. Rand is now on a deadline toward magical insanity and/or death, and sooner or later Mat’s problems are going to come to a head. Are they going to find any help before things get too far along? I better keep reading to find out.
Join me next time when we will cover Chapters 34-36, in which Rand and Matt finally (finally!) reach Caemlyn, learn some new things about an old friend and even discover a very unexpected new one. I can’t wait. But in the meantime, I will see you all down below in the comments!
Did you know that raccoons like toothpaste? Sylas Barrett learned that the hard way.
You’ve met what, three actual Darkfriends so far? And they’re still out in the sticks, they haven’t even made it to a single major city yet.
Every time I read these, I just see so much setup for later on in the books. There are so many things that have cascading effects throughout the whole series. What you should really look out for later on is all the connections. It just gets more and more impressive that he keeps it all coherent through that much material. Yes, he can write the story to make this early stuff work, but it had to still have been super difficult. Even changing one thing would be difficult when you have thousands of pages of world building that you’d have to make sure you didn’t contradict. You’d have to make sure you aren’t accidentally having a character do something as simple as spilling tea on themselves when they stated 12 books ago that they didn’t like tea.
So yeah, I like reading your reviews, but I’ll like even better when you start seeing call back and references that just keep building on themselves. :)
Ah, the flashback within a flashback debacle, aka The Great Mystery of the Scarves. Caused a lot of trouble in the Fandom back in the day.
I just want to say how much I enjoy your read, it’s like a warm blanket of nostalgia for me, someone who began the series almost 20 years ago as a literal child. You’re an astute reader….thanks for sharing your journey with us!
The darkfriends seem to be a change from the usual Tolkien-esque flight from the idyllic home. It’s one thing to run from the scary people in black coats or run into people who are hostile for their own reasons. It’s something else to have agents of evil out in front of the protagonists.
The flashback upon flashback was a little confusing. I’m wondering now if it was meant to be. Rand is feeling pretty disoriented by now. Maybe we should feel that way too.
Kelsey – nice job at picking up the bizarrely wonky timeline issues in these chapters.
I love some of RJ’s wry humor that arises throughout the book (and series). One example is the scenes where the farmer’s daughter is plainly after Rand and the mother responds with a “reward” for Mat and Rand to sleep in the parents room and the mother will sleep in the same room with Else. Hilarious. I also like the nice character moments, such as that Mat, even though cranky and falling apart, still comes alive and has fun in the presence of children.
Not much has been going on in the last hundred years that the average darkfriend would need to worry about. I think many of them are like sleeper agents, just going about ordinary lives until they are given a task. This makes them scarier, to me, because they really could be someone you’ve known for years to be a seemingly upstanding person.
The Great Lord of the Dark is apparently aware that the Dragon Reborn is now active in the world, so suddenly the darkfriends have to be a lot more active with their evil employment. And yes, even though we haven’t encountered that many dark friends yet, these chapters really bring to light how ever present they are, and how vulnerable a more ignorant person can be. Just when they lose one dark friends, they run into another in the next town, and the town after that. Like mentioned elsewhere, they aren’t even in any major cities yet.
Not sure how the pointless and confusing flashback-within a-flashback debacle got past the editing stage…
You picked up on the one of the things that really show what Matrim ‘bloody’ Cauthon true character is, half blinded and poisoned by the dagger, and when his friend is in trouble Mat steps up and takes care of him. When people who don’t care for Mat start bad mouthing him I always point back to this moment in the book as to why Mat deserve so much more credit than they’re giving him. And you picked up on it on your first read, you just won all the internet points I have to give.
The structure of these chapters is just so off putting and even knowing why RJ set them up this way does nothing to help with the fact that in the end I just don’t think it worked. I remember during my first read through being so put off by this stretch, unlike you I was zipping through the story by this point but when these chapters come up it was like when a marathon runner hits the wall, their body stops working properly and so did this story. Luckily its just these chapters that are so disjointed and RJ gets back to his natural flow after them.
I do love that inept Darkfriend tho, usually when a fantasy story tends towards Tolkien the evil characters are all competent people and when Patir shows up I found him to be a nice breath of fresh air. Evil characters can be just as much of a bumbler as the characters on the good side can be.
So far in the timeline being a dark friend have given you some extra advantages in society (like a weird Freemasons club) but usually you haven’t been obliged to do that much in return for your Faustian deal.
It’s like
“Sure I’ll join your group if I get these benefits from it, I mean there not much chance that the Great Lord of the dark is going to demand that much of me since he probably won’t return in my life time. Oh wait ….he’s what …. ####!!!!!”
@9 Biter Totally agree about Matt and how whenever the reader is distracted by his “fool of a Took” moments, they should think back to the scene you cite.
@3 Katiya Same for me. I picked up The Eye of the World in the fall of 1990, nearly 30 years ago. The thoughts of a first-time reader really do bring back those memories.
Enough has been said about The Scarves. It didn’t bother me as much as it bothered most fans. But my circumstances of reading this sequence on first read were unusual. I was on a grueling cross-country trip with a lot of changes, stuck in an airport and completely sleep-deprived but unable to sleep. So the disorientation, and the sense of the boys’ utter exhaustion, terror and confusion, hit me a lot harder than it did the average reader because of the life/fiction overlap.
Good catch, picking up that, despite what we might expect given the repulsiveness of the Children of the Light, there are in fact an alarming concentration of Darkfriends relative to the overall population. Without heading into spoiler territory, I think that I can theorize that, given both that nearly everyone believes that the Dark One is objectively real, and that what we have seen of mainstream religious practice suggests that the Creator is generally believed to offer few if any direct benefits (pay attention to Moiraine’s theology as the story progresses), it is perfectly plausible that a significant minority of people would choose to worship the Dark One. RJ also stated that actual atheism is extremely rare in this world. I draw a connection to the reverse Zoroastrianism depicted by Jacqueline Carey in Kushiel’s Avatar. Both are Manichean dualist cosmologies (you already know enough about the Dark One to deduce that he is not the Christian Satan or Tolkien’s Morgoth, but an equal and opposite power to the Creator). //Given that the Black Ajah turns out to be about 20% of the Tower, the only logical conclusion is that Darkfriend cells have been grooming young women who can channel, and that Darkfriends must make up a very significant minority of the population in order for those numbers to work out when channeling is itself statistically very rare. I understand Liandrin’s backstory as implying that she grew up in a Darkfriend community like Paitr. I also have a longstanding pet theory that Darkfriend cells recruit young non-Aiel men who can channel, by analogy with the promises Ba’alzamon makes to Rand. That would be an extremely potent temptation, and would also explain the statistically improbable numbers of Asha’man who do not have to be 13×13’d.//
I would advise you to be very alert to characters’ theologies of both the Creator and the Dark One, and to hold them up to evidence based on what you see from different perspectives. This isn’t a spoiler since there is still debate on this topic. However, I would argue that one big strength of RJ writing consistently in very close third person is that he has no absolutely reliable viewpoint characters. I would argue that this is a huge factor in reading the gender politics of the work as well–keeping a distinction between what characters say about gender, and what the larger dramatic action and fictional history and sociology say about gender.
Ugh, hate Chapters 31 to 33. Almost stopped me back in 1991 from finishing TEOTW. Glad I trudged through though. I have to admit that a couple times during rereads I have skipped these chapters, despite the fact that I know some important stuff is in there. And also despite the fact that many of the characters make cameos later in the books, in one case much, much later. This time, I read them and managed to enjoy them even though the flashbacks still annoy me.
@9 Totally, TOTALLY agree with you about Mat. I liked him from the beginning, and very strongly in these chapters even though I did not pick up instantly on the dagger (I thought it was a psychological reaction). We also haven’t seen inside his POV yet.
BTW, little point about the audiobook, for any posters who have listened to it. I’ve always had a strong preference for how Kate Reading plays both Rand and Mat over Michael Kramer’s performance on those rare occasions when a female POV causes her to be cast as those characters. Much more complex and vulnerable.
Does Shadar Logoth seem implausible to anyone else? You would think Andor would have built a wall around it to keep people out and since they haven’t you would think there would be a lot more people like Mat roaming around.
@12, it is clear that the Children of Light were founded in good faith to combat a real threat. It is also very clear that something has gone horribly wrong with them.
Similar!y the Red Ajah also combats a real danger. Cruel as gentling is, it is better than the alternative. But something has also gone wrong here and the Red Ajah are seen as anti man not just anti crazy male channelers.
Considering the very real and awful consequences of channeling saidin, men who discover the talent and their families should be willing to accept the Aes Sedai’s help. That they are not shows a terrible PR failure on the part of the White Tower.
@ 16 princessroxanna The Red Ajah, like the Children, have become off-putting because of their over-enthusiasm for their work. Like so much else in Jordan’s world, all such behavior patterns are subject to the Law of Unintended Consequences. As we say, the road to hell is often paved with good intentions.
Spoileriffic:
@@@@@ 12 mutantalbinocrocodile // We honestly don’t know what was happening in the “special rooms” of the Black Tower.They could have hidden “anyone” in there. //
@@@@@ 16 princessroxanna Whatever the reasons, the Red Ajah is now contemptuous of men in most instances, and the few who aren’t get swept up in the groupthink attitude. // Perava (sp?) was one of the only ones who would admit to not hating men, and she was a “well experienced” Red Ajah huntress. //
@16, It is my opinion, that any organization that is based on a singular purpose will attract individuals that are single minded.. This helps me to conclude that Jordan was aiming at realism within human society… He was a student of history, I believe. If a woman suffers enough at the hands of a man, she would be prone to join the red ajah… not all of them, but some would definitely pursue that group with a certain revengeful zeal… similarly the children of light would find flawed individuals with zeal and not only sympathetic to their cause, but ripe for brainwashing. Teaching proofs on what you already suspect or halfway know will cement their beliefs to very high levels. Then you add time and poof! You end up with a corrupt group that feels they are only answerable to themselves… everyone else is corrupt… we are the only pure ones…
Another great post.
As admittedly confused as it is, I really love this sequence.
Wonderful commentary by @18 and @19. I would also add that the Red Ajah has suffered from the transformation of the historical facts detailed in the Prologue into a gender-flipped concept of Original Sin associated with the male, unlike its real-world Western associations with the female in many Christian-influenced cultures.
//The wording of the ritual for judicial gentling, with its implications that men who channel are involved in “man’s sin”, strongly suggests this. But Kelsey hasn’t seen a gentling yet, so that’s whited out.//
//Sin theology is another aspect that seems to have grown up sporadically and in relation to historical memory and individual or cultural prejudice rather than from any kind of systematic theology or holy book. See Nynaeve’s contempt for the false Wisdom’s over-extended concept of sin in her Accepted test.//
Theologically Original sin affects both sexes. Women just get blamed for it because of Eve.
Thanks Kelsey, for another fun recap.
I have not begun a reread along with you, although the urge was great! Too many items on the list of things to do in Spring! Having started reading the series from very near Day One, I used to start right from the beginning every time the next book came out. Obviously, that became more and more difficult. So, I have not actually read TEOTW in years. The awkwardness of the flashbacks was something I had forgotten about. I am curious about RJ’s reasons for not altering this portion. You would have to think someone spoke up and said it was a difficult read.
On the point of encountering Darkfriends, I have always thought that it must have to do with the natural balance of the weaving of the Wheel. The Dark One’s prison is weakening, so the Dragon must be reborn. Other “heroes” are spun out of the pattern to assist him. Why would we not expect an upturn in the amount of people who swear themselves to the DO as well? We are headed toward the Last BATTLE, not the Last Time the Creator’s Champion Wins In a Cake-Walk!
Honestly, I really love these chapters. I get that they’re confusing and I understand that they’re not exactly easy to follow(at all!!), but for some reason, for me….it just works. I think the disorientation I suffer while reading helps me sink into Rand’s mindset even more deeply. I had forgotten how many different darkfriends were in this section and so when I reread this a few weeks ago, a combination of the weird structure of this section along with the growing terror of Rand & Mat combined to give me a healthy paranoia myself…and I was just reading it, not walking along with them!! I began wondering when the darkfriends would ever end, when would Mat & Rand escape? Was there an escape? I fell into that “fever dream” state while reading and…I’d read this book many times before!! So for the weird feelings this induced in me, I cannot praise it enough. But I’m odd that way, I suppose.
Nice catch with Rand & the Lightning. Can you pick out the two previous times Rand has unconsciously used the Power and the resultant sickness/consequence? I did not pick up on the first time on my first re-read.
The Flashback with a Flashback, though a little confusing, did not really bother me or distract from the story too much. Apparently others feel differently, but I think it adds to the disorienting state Rand is in at the time.
With regards to the number of Darkfriend’s Rand & Mat bump into don’t forget // the influence of the ruby dagger can be picked up by Darkfriend’s as Moiraine has yet to do her temporary containment… //
As to the timeline I think RJ knew full well it was confusing, like others say I think it’s deliberate. I’ve got to say I reread this a couple of times when I first read it. If you had read 34 also the timeline would be slightly clearer.
Once again another wonderful analysis. You pick up things I overlooked and make wonderful comparisons, thank you for doing this!
My only complaint is the amount of chapters covered each week, it’s so few :(
Once I saw this article i decided to start reading WOT for the first time as well and follow along with you but I quickly eclipsed this weekly format and just finished book 3. Is this the established pace and do you have a set amount of “parts” for each book and estimated time to finish the series? At my current rate with no distractions I estimate I’ll finish the series in about 8 months.
Assuming 3 chapters read per week, 50 chapters per book, and 15 books total – this calculates out to 250 weeks of articles :O
Is this a 5 year endeavor or are there plans to have an increased read rate later or at certain times?
@27 I have been wondering the same thing – at this pace it could take 4-10 years to finish the series. I started a week of two after Kelsey did, and already I’m finishing the fourth book, because I just can’t go that slowly. The very close reading and digests are great, but is it realistic to sustain this for years? It’s both a massive commitment of Kelsey’s time and effort, and a considerable sacrifice – can we really ask him to wait until 2022 or so to reach the resolution?
I seriously doubt he will be covering the entire series
This is my favorite section of EotW! Just something about it was weirdly cozy to me, despite how miserable they are, and it made me happy. I loved the way they took care of each other so much and had to stick together, and Mat’s blindness was really cool to me (mostly because I am very fond of characters being injured or sick; I also enjoyed Rand being sick). I actually really like Mat here, and his being comfortable around the children was so adorable. Unfortunately, I have so far in the series not been able to like him as much as I do in this section. Which is kind of sad, because he’s not acting completely like himself because of the dagger.
Oh my gosh having multiple flashbacks explains a lot about these chapters! I thought that the end of the chapter with Hyam Kinch showing up was something with time repeating and the same things happening again, which was weird and terrifying. This makes so much more sense.
Also, looking back at my observations from when I was reading EotW, I was apparently calling the male half of the Power “the saidin” at this point, which cracks me up to no end. I also realized that it’s been slightly over a year since I started the series! It’s been a wonderful year.
Two more things.
1. Honestly Kelsey how tempted are you to peek at some of the spoliers people comment? (Note point 2 is a spoiler so please don’t just look at it)
2. // Mat’s temporary blindness… foreshadowing somewhat… //
@31 re: #2 I had the same thought about this line that Kelsey posted!! //When Rand woke his face was hot and Mat was dreaming too, screaming “he took my eyes!”//
Also, I am one of the weird ones that like the flashback within a flashback, yes is was sorta confusing the first time through, but I got to the end and was like “Oh I get it, that was SO COOL!”
Flashback in a Flashback? What kind of madness is this?
That sure that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, huh? Moiraine has said that the boys are Ta’veren. Unlikely things happen around ta’veren all the time (especially im the later books). How do you know that the lightning wasn’t a coincidence and Rand felt ill because he’d spent weeks sleeping in ditches and under hedges?
Granted, Rand is the only one getting consistently ill, but he could just have a weak constitution.
@34, the fact that the book is being told predominantly from Rand’s POV is kind of a give-away.
@35. Now, nown the DM strongly discourages metagaming ;)
I never had a problem with the strange timeline. It just reflects Rand’s confusion and sickness.
//It isn’t a Bubble of Evil like Hinderstap.//
In Leigh’s reread we did the whole series and then started again because we didn’t like running out of books. It was only stupid new managers canceling that series. They seem to have realized they made a mistake and replaced it with this read. Why shouldn’t it last through the whole series?
It never occurred to me that someone besides Rand was going to be the Dragon.
And I still believe someone did an accidental cut-and-paste that no one caught until after publication.
These chapters made me understand the importance of a good editor. It’s the kind of job you don’t notice until something’s wrong.
Beyond that, this passage is one of my favorites for the buddy feeling we get from both Rand and Mat. When one is sick or blind, the other helps. It reminds me of a quote from Firefly:
“When you can’t run, you crawl, and when you can’t crawl – when you can’t do that… Find someone to carry you.”
@34 Pretty sure Moiraine hasn’t mentioned the ‘T’ word or it’s implications // I’m fairly sure it’s Loial that first mentions it //
@34 and 40 – we’ve been down this path several times in this re-read. The reference to the Old Tongue word beginning with T should be deleted until we get to it in the text a few chapters down the line. Patience is a virtue, man!
@22: Correct: that’s why I was referring to cultural assumptions about original sin from late antiquity onwards (where Classical misogyny is also fouling the stew), not orthodox theology.
@27-29:
This site has an established history at a pace similar to this. With this very series. And with A Song of Ice and Fire.
Leigh Butler spent almost five years reading A Song of Ice and Fire, and over five years on the Wheel of Time Re-read. This pace is similar.
Can I just say how nice it is to read through a comment section and not see people dumping all over each other. This is the power of the Wheel people!
I recently reread books 11-14, but found I still hadn’t had enough. When I came across this, I started book one again. The excitement I felt over someone else reading the WoT for the first time was too strong!
Kelsey, I’m excited for your journey and good luck with the self control to not read ahead(impossible)!
Peace favor your swords people!
Late to the party this week.
Once again are heroes are confronted by a non-supernatural evil in close proximity to the forces of the Dark One. RJ does a great job capturing the feeling of helplessness as Rand and Matt are driven into a corner by the innkeeper. I like that they weren’t stupid, but still were likely to be . . . gotten without supernatural intervention. Thom would have walked right past that inn no matter how hungry he was, but they don’t have that experience yet.
Regarding the proliferation of darkfriends, clearly the forces of darkness have “distributed” descriptions of our heroes and activated every asset they have. Therefore, it’s likely they get confronted by a high percentage of the total darkfriend population of not just the villages they pass through, but any nearby villages as well.
Agreed with several others above, Matt is a great friend. Not only does he keep life interesting, but he has your back when excrement strikes spinning rotors.
Basically we see that while the Whitecloaks have gone all Spanish Inquisition they are not fighting an illusion.There really are Darkfriends out there. Though I’m willing to bet most of the people the Whitecloaks hang Are Not.
I didn’t realize the timeline had flashed back until the scarf scene happened again. On this reread, anyway; I don’t know what I thought while reading it (aside from “Gimme more Shadowspawn now!”). I’m listening to an audiobook this time, and it can be really hard to notice flashbacks without being able to see any section breaks, font changes etc. that might indicate them. The distinction is easiest in stories when the main text is in the present tense and flashbacks are past tense, or flashbacks are given their own chapters, neither of which happens here.
I enjoyed these chapters for the combination of worldbuilding and slices-of-life that a travelogue can provide, and for the sensory detail of the boys’ discomforts and travails. The showdown with Gode is wonderfully tense and scary, even on a reread.
That must be a big pocket, to hold two scarves.
Spoilers:
///Given Rand and Mat’s later hangups about causing the deaths of women, I wonder if they would have spared a male Darkfriend at this point in the story (and this point of the dagger, heh) despite their nominally un-gendered rationale of not wanting to be as bad as Darkfriends.///
///As I said in the Redux, these Darkfriends are pathetically incompetent. What kind of assassin or captor announces their intent and apologizes in advance? A very good or very bad one, and Paitr is the latter. They all should have dressed to blend in, and Gode might not have attracted so much suspicion if he hadn’t been staring at his targets all evening. *eyeroll* I know the Shadow had a low opinion of the boys’ strength and resistance, but I couldn’t help thinking that someone halfway-skilled would have finished them off…and ended the story, which is why it didn’t happen that way.///
///Also, I really like this bit Leigh said in the original Reread:
“So, Rand at this point has no magical powers, no weapons training, and now no allies — unless you count Mat, who is destined to become awesome but at the moment is, well, not, what with his brain getting slowly eaten and all — and I think it is this powerlessness, and the frustration with it that Rand feels as a character and we feel as his audience/cheering section, that really solidifies the hook that has dragged us all along through, what, almost twenty years and eleven books. Rand and Co. may become insanely powerful later on, but somewhere in the back of the reader’s head, it is this Rand we remember, and continue to root for.”///
@47 One of your whiteouts didn’t take.
@47/48 — Fixed it, thanks.
I’ve just realised something
// The Dancing Cartman could be classed as a ‘Hell’ . Making it Mat’s first visit to a Hell//
These are important chapters in establishing a number of things that become increasingly relevant down the road.
The chronological issue is sometimes confusing. If anything it becomes more so as we go forward. In this case we have use of flashbacks in the third person narrative from Rand’s POV which really doesn’t bother me very much. As the world building continues and more characters become important it can be more confused. We will see a story arc of character X that spans weeks or months, then jump to a story arc of character Y, and eventually realize that the second arc picks up where the first began rather than where the first left off. Sort of a “meanwhile, back at the ranch” moment that can be jarring and make keeping track of just how many months or years are passing, especially since this happens more than once. Still, there are so many characters in this world, each important to the overall story, that it’s hard to imagine a different way to do it.
It’s always interesting to read your updates Kelsey! I began a re-read when you first started this project and told myself I’d stick to your timeline. I’m three books ahead now unfortunately but still like coming back to where you are. My own flashbacks?
@44: That’s a great point! The WoT fandom has always been quite cohesive and relatively troll-free and drama-free, even when we aren’t agreeing with each other on everything. Here’s to us for being nice fans!
I started my reread after this began and just finished this book. I’ve decided I’m going to read a different book in between each WoT book so as not to get too far ahead. I really enjoy Kelsey’s observations as he is picking up on things that I never did my first, second, or third go-rounds :)
@51: // Doesn’t the whole story take place over 2 years, in-world? I’m pretty sure their years are longer than ours, but doesn’t Rand actually say in AMoL about how they left t2R a little over two years ago, or something? Not only do we have these backwards-and-forwards-ing perspectives, but we all many of us also have so very many years of reading this series, that it easily distorts our perceptions of the speed of events and overall timescale. One of my friends keeps insisting the series covers a decade (despite evidence to the contrary). Of course, I don’t real count ANS in that (which would add about 19 years), and the Age of Legends flashback stuff would be ridiculous to include. //
Also, @34: Strangely pleased that I wasn’t the one getting told off for reminded that we shouldn’t yet be mentioning “the dreaded ‘T’ word!” (for a change…) Lol. #SorryNotSorry. Not long now though!
@54 – well played!
I definitely remember my disorientation at these chapters – not sure I ever considered it was intended to be a kind of method writing to get me more into Rand’s head. These are some great chapters, with some great tension, and set some really important things up – and it is nice to see those germs of Mat’s personality break through, even here (I have to admit, I was not a big Mat fan for most of the series).
I believe its closer to three years, but definitely less than three years pass from Winter’s Night to “Twice Dawns the Day.”
“Once some raccoons got into our tent and ate my sister’s toothpaste. Does that count?” – were they evil looking raccoons with freaking laserbeams on their head?
@6 “Mat, even though cranky and falling apart, still comes alive and has fun in the presence of children. ” Yes, one of the few moments Mat wasn’t upsetting me in this book and some of the second
the flight from the ravens and the traveling from cart to cart from inn to inn where stretched to long for me, so they were not the better parts of this book. Mat is great! He’ll make up for all this just you wait
You know, I didn’t even realize Rand had summoned the lightning when I first read that section – it was only when he got sick that I realized this was the reaction Moiraine had described earlier and then thought back to when it must have happened… I blame the bottle of wine I was drinking, dulling my senses… :P
Anyone else is on their re-read at the end of this wonderful and eventful 2020? :)
@@@@@#1 Don’t Baerlon and Whitebridge count as major cities?