Welcome back to Reading The Wheel of Time! After so many short chapters, we are finally getting some real action. This week Perrin puts the first part of his plan to rescue Faile into motion, Mat begins a guerrilla warfare campaign against the Seanchan, and Rand meets a false Daughter of the Nine Moons. Suspecting a trap helps him avoid complete disaster, but things don’t go quite as well as he might have hoped, either.
Let’s get to recapping!
Perrin sits just inside a tree line on Stepper, watching some of the windmills that power the aqueduct and thinking about how it is almost time to add the fifty-fourth knot to the cord he uses to keep track of how long Faile has been a captive. Once Gaul and some of the maidens have made sure there are no Shaido around the windmills, some of the Seanchan begin emptying sacks of forkroot into the aqueduct. Perrin worries over the forkroot not being strong enough to take out the Wise Ones, and also worries about it steeping and taking effect too quickly. There is nothing he can do now but go ahead with the plan and hope.
Perrin’s plan includes an advance party, which will enter the aqueduct and follow it down to the cistern, then make its way to the fortress in Malden. The first to climb in is Seonid, along with her three Warders and Masuri’s Warder, Rovair. They are followed by Elyas and Tallanvor. Perrin trusts Tallanvor because he smells of caution as well as eagerness, and empathizes with the man’s desire to see Maighdin as soon as possible. He isn’t sure if he himself would be capable of the restraint he trusts Tallanvor to have.
Cha Faile is next in line, led by Selande. She thanks Perrin for including them in the advance party, and promises not to let him down.
Next, Ban al’Seen leads a group of Two Rivers men who are going with the party. Perrin is surprised when Gaul joins as well, but the Aielman explains that Chiad is properly gai’shain, and will still have the rest of her year and a day to serve after being rescued.
“When a man has a woman as gai’shain, or a woman a man, sometimes a marriage wreath is made as soon as white is put off. It is not uncommon. But I heard the Maidens say they would reach Chiad first, to keep her from me.”
Perrin finds Grady waiting for him in a clearing, where the gateway from the Seanchan encampment is still open. The Asha’man looks weary, and admits that all the Traveling has been wearing him out; he’s even started tying the gateways off because he’s too tired to hold them open for very long. Perrin knows that Neald is tired too, and worries that if the Asha’man fall short of the number of gateways Perrin will need them to make, a lot of people will die.
He asks Grady to send him back to his own camp, and gives him permission to sleep in the Seanchan’s camp and spare him making one more gateway. Neald declines, however, admitting that he got into an altercation after suggesting to some of the damane that they might like to have their collars off. The damane began crying and calling for the sul’dam, which creeped Grady out.
“Whatever happens with the damane, Grady, it won’t be this week, or next. And it won’t be us who fixes it. So you let the damane be. We have a job of work in front of us that needs doing.” And a deal with the Dark One to do it. He pushed the thought away. Anyway, it had grown hard to think of Tylee Khirgan being on the Dark One’s side. Or Mishima. “You understand that?”
“I understand, my Lord. I’m just saying it makes my skin crawl.”
Once he has arrived at his own camp, Perrin finds Berelain in his own tent, entertaining Tylee. Annoura is also present, along with Aram, and Balwer hovering at the edge of things. Tylee immediately asks if Perrin has already begun putting the forkroot into the town’s water supply. When Perrin answers that he has, she sighs.
Tylee tells him that a scout on a raken spotted seven thousand Children of the Light on the march. With Annoura interjecting, Perrin learns that Galad Damodred killed Eamon Valda and led those seven thousand Whitecloaks to leave the Seanchan cause. Balwer interjects that he feels he owes Galad Damodred a debt of gratitude, which makes Perrin wonder to himself if Balwer’s apparent grudge against the Children was against Valda personally.
The more important piece of news comes when Tylee tells him that there are two large parties of Shaido heading towards Malden, only a few days away from reaching it. But at that moment, the world seems to ripple in front of Perrin, and he feels himself ripple too. Berelain clings to him in fright, and he holds her as the world ripples twice more. It feels like everything is made of fog that might blow away in the wind. When it passes, Tylee asks what happened, and Annoura admits she has no idea. Perrin tells them that it doesn’t matter.
In Malden, Faile is feeling harassed after being beaten because Sevanna was unhappy with the quality of her bath. Many more wetlander gai’shain have been swearing fealty to her, and some are calling to rise up against the Seanchan. Faile is worried that there will be a revolt, and a slaughter, if she can’t stop it.
Meanwhile, Rolan is trying to get her to play a kissing game, and Faile is trying to avoid it without completely rejecting his advances towards her. Catching sight of Galina, she tells Rolan that she has work to do and that she will have to think on his suggestion. He strokes her cheek, surprising her with the forward gesture, and then leaves.
Faile insists that Galina promise, in plain words, to take her and her friends when she leaves. Galina slaps her, but Faile only slaps her back, and Galina makes the promise angrily. She tells Faile to bring it in the morning to the far edge of town where the Aiel burned all the buildings.
In Altara, Rand is dressed to impress, wearing the Crown of Swords on his head and carrying the Dragon Scepter, on which the Maidens have carved dragons to match those glittering on his exposed hands. In his head, Lews Therin calls him a fool for walking into a trap, but Rand knows he has to take the chance for peace, and has plans for if the meeting does turn out to be a trap.
He has Maidens with him, as well as Bashere and some of his men, Asha’man, Aes Sedai, and Warders. Some of his companions also express worry over a trap, but Rand is firm about sticking to his plan.
Only Logain, Narishma, Sandomere, Cadsuane and Nynaeve are accompanying Rand to the meeting itself, plus Min, though Rand regrets promising that she could come. The rest will wait a distance away and come to Rand’s aid via gateway if needed.
As they near the appointed meeting place, a manor house belonging to a minor Altaran noblewoman, the Asha’man all seize saidin, and Cadsuane and Nynaeve embrace saidar, though Rand doesn’t feel the usual goosebumps. The women have found a way to mask their ability, and thus shield him from even this small advantage in sensing the use of saidar.
When they reach the building, which is little more than a large farmhouse, Rand has to admit to himself that it does smell like a trap. Three sul’dam and damane pairs appear in the doorway, followed by a small woman who perfectly matches the description Bashere was given of the Daughter of the Nine Moons.
“One of them is channeling,” Nynaeve said, just loudly enough for him to hear, as she climbed down from her saddle. “I can’t see anything, so she’s masked her ability and inverted the weave—and I wonder how the Seanchan learned that!—but she’s channeling. Only one; there isn’t enough for it to be two.” Her ter’angreal could not tell whether it was saidin or saidar being channeled, but it was unlikely to be a man.
Cadsuane informs Rand that they can’t tell which damane is channeling but that she can do something about it once they are closer. Rand whispers for Min to stay behind him and starts towards the doorway, flanked by Cadsuane and Nynaeve and the Asha’man. The Daughter of the Nine Moons starts towards them in turn, but suddenly she flickers, her image changing to a taller woman with a different face. Rand recognizes Semirhage instantly from Lews Therin’s memories, and says her name aloud.
He tries to reach for saidin but is blocked by Lews Therin trying to grasp it as well. Semirhage shoots a ball of fire at him, and Rand can’t reach the Source or jump out of the way, since Min is behind him. He throws up the hand with the Dragon Scepter in it, and the world seems to “explode in fire.”
He’s next aware of being on the ground with his cheek in the mud. He can feel saidin being channeled and the goosebumps from saidar, but when he tries to push himself up he feels immense pain and discovers that his entire left hand has been burned away entirely. Min tries to keep him lying down, but he grasps the One Power and manages to climb to his feet—only to find that the fighting is over.
Semirhage is a prisoner, restrained by flows of Air. One of the sul’dam–damane pairs is similarly restrained, while the second are injured and the third are dead. Sandomere’s arm is broken, but Nynaeve heals it.
Gateways begin opening all around as Rand’s backup forces arrive, every Asha’man full of saidin, while Bashere gives orders for the house to be searched. Nynaeve comes to Rand, apologizing profusely because she knows she can’t restore what he has lost.
His entire arm began tingling, and the pain drained away. Slowly, blackened skin was replaced by smooth skin that seemed to ooze down until it covered the small lump that had been the base of his hand. It was a miraculous thing to see. The scarlet-and-gold scaled dragon grew back, too, as much as it could, ending in a bit of the golden mane. He could still feel the whole hand.
Nynaeve is aware that there is something wrong with his eyes, but wants to study the problem more before trying to do anything about that. Rand insists that he can see fine, though this is a lie. Bashere joins them, observing that at least Rand’s alive. Rand agrees that they have both seen men with worse injuries.
Nynaeve thinks Rand must be in shock, but Min answers that Rand isn’t—he’s simply moved on from a fact he can do nothing to change. Nynaeve tries to insist that it’s alright and normal to feel stunned and to grieve, but Rand only answers that he doesn’t have time for that.
Rand fills Bashere in on what happened, and when Cadsuane asks Rand how he knows Semirhage, the Forsaken herself explains that Rand is mad.
“Graendal could explain it better than I. Madness was her specialty. I will try, however. You know of people who hear voices in their heads? Sometimes, very rarely, the voices they hear are the voices of past lives. Lanfear claimed he knew things from our own Age, things only Lews Therin Telamon could know. Clearly, he is hearing Lews Therin’s voice. It makes no difference that his voice is real, however. In fact, that makes his situation worse. Even Graendal usually failed to achieve reintegration with someone who heard a real voice. I understand the descent into terminal madness can be… abrupt.”
Rand feels numbness through his bond with Min, and worries that he is about to lose her. But then the feeling is replaced by compassion and determination, and love so warm it almost feels physical to Rand.
Cadsuane tells Semirhage that she looks forward to some long talks with her. Rand declares that they will send the sul’dam and damane back to Ebou Dar to send word that he wants to meet with the real Daughter of the Nine Moons.
Bashere’s men find the house empty but with traces of blood, and a wooden box with a’dam in it. Nynaeve identifies male a’dam next to those for women, and becomes furious that Egeanin didn’t drop them in the ocean the way she promised. Now, the Seanchan have made more.
Everyone is horrified at the realization that Semirhage could have collared all of them, and that only the fact that Rand’s allies were already holding the One Power saved them from that fate. When Rand gives orders to send the sul’dam back to somewhere near Ebou Dar, Falendre asks who he is to demand such an audience.
“My name is Rand al’Thor. I’m the Dragon Reborn.” If they had wept at hearing Semirhage’s name, they wailed at hearing his.
Mat sits on Pips with his ashandarei across his saddle, waiting with Tuon and Selucia, Teslyn, Captain Mandevwin, and two thousand mounted crossbowmen. His men are hitting the Seanchan in half a dozen places on the same night, but Mat is waiting specifically to ambush a large party that he is trying lure to come to the aid of the smaller camp where the raken is. Two green nightflowers launched in the distance let him know that his plan is unfolding and that the raken has been sent towards the large camp.
He starts his forces moving, ignoring Teslyn’s complaints that his plan relies heavily on luck. That is somewhat true; he has no guarantee that the commander of the Seanchan will move his forces in the way Mat expects. When they come to the spot for the ambush, Mat gives orders for the horses to be hobbled and given feed bags, so they won’t make any noise. He also gives orders for the placement of his crossbowmen and setting a watch. He reflects on the fact that Tuon must not like what is happening, but he still trusts her to keep her word anyway.
As they wait, Teslyn warns Mat about Joline; Teslyn expects her to try to convince Mat to become her Warder, and might find a way to make him agree without even realizing he has done it. Tuon becomes incensed, telling Teslyn that Mat is hers and she won’t let anyone have him, especially a marath’damane. Mat cuts off their argument, and Tuon remarks that he is being masterful again.
Mat admits to Teslyn that his aim with these raids and skirmishes is to draw the Seanchan forces out of the Molvaine Gap so that he and his party can slip through. Tuon, Selucia, and Teslyn all stare at him and he can’t figure out why, or what they are thinking.
Eventually Vanin arrives to report four thousand lancers coming down the road about a mile behind him. This is about a thousand more than expected, and Mat’s forces are outnumbered two to one, but Mat merely takes them back to join the main force, where Mandevwin already has everyone in place, every crossbow loaded and aimed.
An owl hooted twice, somewhere behind him, and Tuon sighed.
“Is there an omen in that?” he asked, just for something to say.
“I’m glad you are finally taking an interest, Toy. Perhaps I will be able to educate you yet.” Her eyes were liquid in the moonlight. “An owl hooting twice means someone will die soon.” Well, that put a bloody end to conversation.
The Seanchan lancers come into view. Mat assumes it must be ta’veren work when the commander calls the company to a halt in absolutely the perfect position for his ambush. Before the men on the road can mount up, Teslyn sends a ball of light out above them on Mat’s command. The crossbows release almost at the same time, in a torrent of arrows, limbs breaking and even armor being pierced at such close range.
The commander tries to lead his men into the trees before Mat’s forces can reload, but the new cranks put paid to that plan as two thousand more bolts crash into them. Afterwards there is no one left standing, and only a few mounted riders may have managed to escape. Mat gives orders to start moving out, but Teslyn interrupts to remind him that the rules of war demand that he offer aid to the wounded.
“This is a new kind of war,” he told her harshly. Light, it was silent on the road, but he could still hear the screaming. “They’ll have to wait for their own to give them aid.”
Tuon murmured something half under her breath. He thought it was, “A lion can have no mercy,” but that was ridiculous.
He leads his men towards their next target, intending to hit the Seanchan again before morning.
Gosh, I never imagined Rand would suffer yet another grievous, unfixable injury. Not before the Last Battle, anyway.
In many ways, the loss of the hand feels symbolic, reminding us how much of himself Rand has lost, and is still losing. Mostly this is a spiritual loss; as he becomes hard and is overcome by the madness of the taint, he is losing his connection to his humanity, to the kind and warm shepherd boy he was before Moiraine, and the Dark, came to find him. Of course, losing part of one’s body doesn’t make one less human, but it can make someone feel separate from other people, to feel othered, and especially in the aftermath of loss, to feel less than whole.
It is significant, too, that Rand suffered this loss because of his main weakness. Not Min, not his love for others, though that is what he believes it to be. His true weakness is all the problems he has with saidin. The madness of having Lews Therin in his head, fighting him for saidin, is the reason he wasn’t able to seize saidin fast enough to protect himself from Semirhage’s attack. Whatever happened to him when he and Moridin channeled balefire at the same time, and the sickness that has resulted from it, prevents him from wanting to hold the One Power prematurely, which is what saved his companions from the attack. If Rand had had access to his power, he would almost certainly have been able to participate in the fight and to protect himself from so simple an attack as a fireball to the face. Or hand.
Semirhage’s explanation of Rand’s madness is about what I concluded the truth about Lews Therin’s presence to be. I’m not sure how to metaphysically explain the bleed-through of another voice, another personality, within the worldbuilding context of The Wheel of Time, but then, it seems even the great healers of the Age of Legends didn’t really know the answer. And we’ve seen that the Dark One’s touch sometimes causes the past to bleed into the present as the Pattern unravels, so the idea of bleed-through of personalities also suggests some kind of corruption being responsible for the bleed-through of a past personality—though the Dark One might not always be responsible for this, if it was a condition was being treated during the Age of Legends. However, the Dark One doesn’t necessarily have to be responsible for all problems that emerge within the Pattern. After all, balefire can be wielded by any channeler, including those serving the Light, and it is so dangerous that it could actually unravel the Pattern for good.
In any case, at last we have a solid answer about whether or not Lews Therin is part of Rand’s madness. Presuming Semirhage is telling the truth, but I don’t see a reason for her to lie here—she’s not really worried about having been captured. As Rand observes, she’s been a captive before and escaped by terrorizing her own guards into letting her go. And I imagine she thinks these primitive people will be much easier to deal with than those guards were.
Semirhage references Graendal’s (usually unsuccessful) attempts to “achieve reintegration” with someone who was hearing a “real” voice. Jordan may have been referencing dissociative identity disorder (formerly called split personality or multiple personality disorder) and suggesting that Graendal worked with patients on integration, basically recombining separated personalities back into one person. I don’t know enough about DID to comment in depth about this concept, but it feels important to note that DID is not a condition where people hear voices telling them to do things, but rather one where a person has multiple identities.
Obviously, Rand’s condition is not meant to be any “real world” mental health disorder, though it may remind us of the pop culture versions of conditions like DID and schizophrenia. I do appreciate that Jordan seems to have avoided the worst of these film and book stereotypes as he deals with the concept of “magic” induced madness.
I find myself wondering if this comment by Semirhage isn’t giving us (and maybe Rand) a clue about how the Lews Therin issue might eventually be resolved. Semirhage says that Graendal usually failed to achieve integration, which means that she was sometimes successful. Perhaps Rand will eventually, through some psychological or metaphysical means, be able to make Lews Therin a part of himself instead of a separate personality, and a separate voice, in his head.
It’s kind of a relief for me as a reader that other people know about Lews Therin now. Rand isn’t just making himself harder and harder—he is also keeping so many secrets about his pain and struggles. The bond with Min, Aviendha, and Elayne has started to change that, since he can’t hide his emotions or his experience of physical pain from them, but learning truths like this one is also really important. He’ll never be able to open up and feel his emotions, to “relearn laughter and tears” the way Cadsuane (and everyone else) wants him to, if he’s hiding every source of his distress. I can’t help but think how much easier it might be for him to let go of that list of dead women if he were actually to experience, and to share, the grief he feels over those losses. Process his emotions, as mental health tiktok keeps reminding us we need to do.
He has so many people who care about him, if only he would let them.
It will be interesting to see how Rand adapts to having only one hand. He mentions to Bashere that he will have to relearn the sword, since most forms require two hands, but I find myself wondering about channeling. Like the Aes Sedai, Asha’man use a lot of hand and arm motions when they weave the One Power, though it’s been suggested a few times that channeling doesn’t, or shouldn’t always, require specific gestures. (Cue me thinking about the scene in the first Doctor Strange movie when he suggests that he can’t make the Marvel Sparkle CirclesTM because of his injured hand, and then the Ancient One introduces him to a man who can do it while missing an entire hand.) So I am really looking forward to seeing how he interacts with channeling and weaving now.
I am also looking forward to Cadsuane interviewing Semirhage. Lews Therin remembers how terrifying Semirhage is, and that she “was never lacking in courage,” and Semirhage herself doesn’t seem very concerned about her position. No doubt she thinks that the people of this Age can do little that would measure up to what she has done, and experienced. But Cadsuane might prove to be more impressive, and resourceful, than Semirhage expects. That battle of wills is going to be fascinating, I think.
But the thing I am looking forward to the most is Perrin finally, finally going in after Faile. I’m tired of the plotline, if I’m being totally honest, and narratively it feels like it’s been dragging for a while. Even with the forkroot in play, the attack promises to be a very dangerous and intense battle, and I think it is going to be the climactic battle of Knife of Dreams, while Rand’s climactic moment will be meeting Tuon and making some kind of alliance with the Seanchan. Both Perrin and Mat’s actions over the course of Knife of Dreams will no doubt help convince Tuon to make some kind of peace with the Dragon Reborn. And I wonder, maybe that pull of his need that they are both feeling is not just about having them close. Maybe it is actually about the actions they are choosing to perform, without even realizing how they will benefit Rand’s cause.
I appreciate that many of the characters continue to bring up the issue of the damane, even though there isn’t anything they can actually do to help the women in question. Perrin has made his deal with the Dark One and cannot take it back (even if he wanted to, which he doesn’t). However, that doesn’t make the issue any less repulsive, and it’s good that people aren’t turning themselves off to that fact. I really like Grady as a character, he’s very down-to-earth, especially for an Asha’man, and a very caring person. I wonder how much correlation there is between someone’s nature and their desire to care for others and a Talent in Healing.
The question of whether or not Grady and Neald will have enough left in the tank to open the last of the gateways needed to enact Perrin’s plan for the battle against the Shaido feels like a bit of a Chekov’s gun to me, even more so than the question of whether or not the Wise Ones will all be taken out by the forkroot in the drinking water. I have a feeling that falling one gateway short may be the wrench, or at least one of the wrenches, in Perrin’s plan.
Another one, though, might be Faile escaping before or right when he is attacking. Galina has no need to keep her promise to take Faile and her friends with her when she escapes with the rod, since she is Black Ajah. But she might decide to if she thinks she can gain some advantage by having them with her. She did want to kill Faile, if memory serves, but she might not be in a hurry to do that right away. And even if she tried, Faile might escape the attempt as well, especially since Galina will still be bound by the rod until she can find another channeler to activate it and remove its restrictions on her.
Is it bad that I kind of want Galina to escape? I mean, she’s a bad guy, but the treatment she has received from Therava and Sevanna is still horrific, and I wouldn’t want to condemn anyone, even a Darkfriend, to it. Being made damane by the Seanchan might be a step up for Galina, really, since the sul’dam are more likely to treat her with gentleness and even their version of kindness if she behaves in the way they expect, though it’s always possible she might end up in the care of a sul’dam who is fickle like Sevanna or a sadist like Therava. One can’t imagine either Sevanna or Therava ever petting and cosseting a prisoner the way the sul’dam do with their damane, and Galina is already bound by a ter’angreal that won’t let her channel without permission, so trading the rod for the a’dam won’t be that big of a deal. Though would the binding of the rod get in the way of her channeling as a damane? Galina can channel when given permission and I don’t remember Therava restricting that permission to only being given by herself, so I think it would be fine.
Therava herself might end up a damane, but I could see her will being strong enough to hold out for death rather than being broken to the a’dam. Again, I don’t feel great about anyone being made damane, but it certainly would be a taste of Therava’s own medicine, and I would be interested in seeing if her will was stronger than any sul’dam’s. And in Galina’s case, there is something poetic about a Darkfriend and Black Ajah member potentially being forced to fight in the Last Battle against the Dark One.
In any case, we all know there will be hiccups in Perrin’s attempts to rescue Faile, and a lot of Shaido will end up being enslaved by the Seanchan, one way or another. I imagine Sevanna will be among them, since she is the one who brought about the decay and destruction of the Shaido. I will say, though, that I kind of respect her two baths a day. A lot of her affectations of wealth and power are adopted from wetlanders and it makes her seem so silly and vapid, but what says wealth and power to an Aiel more than being able to take baths? Sure, it’s also an abdication of the Aiel custom of never wasting water, and maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but I just found the idea kind of enjoyable.
Rolan is also going to play a role in Faile’s escape, I think, though it’s hard to say whether it will be positive or negative. I don’t think he would intentionally and outright stop her from escaping, as he has indicated that he himself would help her do so if and when the Mera’din left for the waste, but his ideas and perspectives are very different than hers and he might cause a problem for her unwittingly, or in an attempt to help in his own way. He seems like a pretty good guy, all things considered, even if he doesn’t understand that no means no and Faile doesn’t ascribe to Aiel ideas of monogamy and “what happens in white stays in white.”
Speaking of what happens in white, it never occurred to me that gai’shain could be taken from the Aiel they were captured by and brought to work for other Aiel who captured them from their captors. Since a gai’shain belongs to the warrior who captured them, you would think they would be exempt from any attempt to recover them. Apparently, however, this is not the case, as the Maidens suggested to Gaul that they were going to reach Chiad before he could and keep her from him. Apparently Gaul wants to take Chiad as his own gai’shain in the hopes that it will lead to her making a marriage wreath once her time wearing white is over.
I am bemused by this, but mostly I want Gaul to start treating Bain right. I really liked Gaul when he was first introduced, but I have to say, I like the way the television show handled Bain and Chiad as girlfriends much more.
And of course, I’m still waiting for Perrin to do something truly over the line in his attempts to rescue Faile. In some ways, he and Rand felt very similar in these two chapters. Perrin shrugs off the way the world ripples and nearly dissolves with the same attitude that Rand takes towards losing his hand. “It doesn’t matter, I won’t feel it, because only my goal is important.” Never mind you lost a hand. And also the Pattern is threatening to dissolve.
I wonder if there is any significance to the fact that the “ripples” and sense of the world fading seems to be happening more often in and around Malden than anywhere else (as far as we know.) Does this have something to do with Perrin and his actions, or is it just happenstance that the Pattern is dissolving, or unraveling, particularly badly right in that area? Is it possible that an area of the world could actually disappear altogether?
I don’t have a lot to say about Mat’s section, though it continues to be interesting watching Tuon and the Aes Sedai re-evaluate him in this new light of his skill as a general. I also just remembered that Suroth, on Semirhage’s orders, is intending to have Tuon killed, which puts a slightly different tone to her continued “captivity” with Mat and even his destruction of her soldiers. Would any of them think her to be the “imposter” Suroth accused her of being? How well-known is that information now? And what will happen when Mat eventually does send Tuon back to her people?
But the main point of Mat’s section is the end, where he tells Teslyn that this is a new kind of war. I’ve been thinking a lot about how the inventions of the crossbow cranks and the “dragons” and “dragons eggs” will change warfare in Rand’s time, especially after Egwene’s dreams about Mat “bowling” and knocking down people. As technology advances, it is a natural consequence for warfare to become more brutal. However, what we see from Mat’s attitude is also an increase in brutality—necessary, perhaps, but still different from the rules of war that have governed at least the latter half of this Age. I wouldn’t say that guerrilla warfare is inherently more brutal than other styles, but going up against a foe that is much stronger than you in number and resources does require a certain level of hardness. Mat can’t afford to help the Seanchan soldiers even if he wants to. And as we know, the Seanchan themselves give very little quarter, and the forces of the Dark give none.
The Last Battle is coming, and there will certainly be no room for mercy towards those enemies, or even mercy towards your own forces—hence the justifications for things like alliances with the Seanchan and tolerance of the damane system. Not to mention Rand’s dehumanization of himself and his fellow Asha’man.
Next week we’ll be returning to Perrin and Faile, and at least the precursor to the final battle in Malden. I intend to cover chapters 28 and 29, possibly a little more or less depending on how complicated everything is. Hopefully not to complicated—I’m tired of waiting! Though not as tired of it as Perrin is. I’ll see you all then!
[As Rand observes, she’s been a captive before and escaped by terrorizing her own guards into letting her go.]
That sounds badass but doesn’t actually make much sense, considering the guards could have just cut her throat with much less danger or effort.
“The question of whether or not Grady and Neald will have enough left in the tank to open the last of the gateways needed to enact Perrin’s plan for the battle against the Seanchan feels like a bit of a Chekov’s gun to me”
Mods, that should be Shaido, not Seanchan.
The post has been updated. Thanks!
[“I’m tired of the plot line”]
Heh.
Amen
Another quoted Seanchan “omen” that is, in fact, entirely accurate. If not exactly a stunning revelation. I remain convinced that the pattern manifests Min-style visions of the future as physical omens sometimes.
Also a little too much taking the forsaken’s word as gospel. She isn’t just a bad guy, or even a darkfriend. She’s FORSAKEN. Newly captive, and as Rand points out not for the first time. She escaped by terrifying her captors. Surely saying that the Dragon is a madman would be a fine start to planting seeds of fear in her new captors? Honestly, anything she says that can’t be independently verified should just be ignored. There might be utility in trying to force weaves out of her – you can verify those work – or maybe any other intel that you could safely verify, or use with little to no risk. But while I oppose the death penalty in the real world I think there’s a very good argument for immediately executing her here. The danger of her escape is ridiculous, and the certainty of keeping her captive is low.
Anyway, even if you can’t see a reason to lie there’s also no reason for her to tell the truth.
Obviously this is setting up Cadsuane’s greatest failure. One that IMO should have been the end of her as a political force, instantly, and then she can just die offscreen. Because I don’t know how you come back by following up an assassination attempt by putting the sniper rifle on a table outside the assassin’s cell, which overlooks the leader’s glass-walled bedroom.
Semirhage should be dead, or at minimum exercise the same “seven sisters actively holding the shield” precaution as was used on Rand (and do that away from Rand). The male a’dam should be thrown through a gateway over the deep ocean, or at minimum sent to a stronghold like the Stone, the Tower, or Rhuidean, where objects of power can be reasonably protected.
Besides obvious Cadsuane precautions failings regarding Semirhage imprisonment and failure to dispose of male a’dam “to study” it under minimal security which she arrogantly presumed were infallible because she couldn’t think ahead. Besides that, don’t forget that Rand himself hamstrung interrogation and imprisonment of Semirhedge because of his issues withh hurting women. Do you REALLY think that he would have allowed her execution or even talk of it, he didn’t even allow forceful interrogation or her removal from his direct oversight (putting her in person far away from him).
No comment from Sylas on the revelation that Semirhage was Anath, Tuon’s Truthspeaker? The identity was pretty clear from the moment Anath was introduced in Winter’s Heart based on Semirhage’s physical description (compare Anath’s description in WH to Semirhage’s in LoC), but Sylas had seemingly never caught it.
“Is it bad that I kind of want Galina to escape?” Yes. Yes it is. While it’s true that what Therava does to her as a prisoner is in violation of the Geneva and all other Conventions, let’s not forget what Galina is and what she’s done. Including: being a member of the Black Ajah for 80 years, being second-in-command of the Black Ajah, torturing and murdering the Amyrlin Seat Tamra Ospenya, getting Elaida elected to the Hall of the Tower, deposing and stilling Siuan, and of course leading the White Tower force that captures and tortures the Dragon Reborn in Cairhien (nearly dooming the world). Plus certainly any number of murders and heinous acts we don’t know about. That doesn’t excuse what Therava does, but Galina in captivity is certainly much better for everyone.
Re: the ripples in reality, I believe they were intended to synchronize Perrin’s and Faile’s timelines. Faile was ahead, and now Perrin has caught up, so it’s not that these are separate events that are happening more frequently, as the ripples seem to be going through the whole Pattern and this was the only time Perrin’s group experienced them. I also strongly suspect that the cause of the ripples
On the one hand, I agree with you about Galina. On the other hand, I always find myself feeling sorry for her fate at the end of this book. It’s a really interesting cognitive dissonance.
And really cool theory on the cause of the ripples! It’s entirely plausible and I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before.