Reading The Wheel of Time: Elayne Really Needs a Dry Outfit in <i>Knife of Dreams</i> (Part 12)

This week in Reading The Wheel of Time, Elayne contends with two sieges: one on her city, and the other on her own sense of bodily autonomy. It’s chapters 13 and 14 of Knife of Dreams.

Chapter 13 opens with Elayne’s forces, led by Birgitte, pushing back an attempt to breach a section of the Caemlyn walls. Elayne is staying well to the back of her forces, surrounded by her guardswomen and dressed nondescriptly, but Birgitte is up on the wall in full regalia, the main target of any attack and fighting only with three Guardsmen at her back—the rest are hired mercenaries. In worry and irritation, Elayne snaps at one of the Guardswomen, then regrets it; her emotions have been all over the place because of her pregnancy. Aviendha teases her about it.

There have been many such attacks on the walls of Caemlyn, and Elayne does not have the forces to defend the entire area. Instead, she has been having linked Kinswomen open gateways to wherever the fighting begins and bringing reinforcements in that way. Elayne notes how tired Birgitte looks, and how tired she feels through the bond, but when she points it out, Birgitte only replies that there is no one else to lead during battle—the mercenaries can’t be left to their own devices, and all Birgitte’s officers are either boys with no experiences or grandfathers who came out of retirement. Elayne wishes Gareth Bryne was with her, though she knows Egwene needs him too.

Elayne notices dark clouds forming rapidly over the Inner City, and then lightning striking down, causing damage and possibly even deaths. She tries to reach for saidar but it slips away from her, so she asks Aviendha to deal with it. Because of how channeling weather works, the clouds can’t just be gotten rid of, but instead must be spread out and dispersed. As a result, everyone gets drenched.

Back in the streets they collect their horses and are joined by some Kinswomen, who open a gateway into the main stableyard of the palace, where Elayne discovers her party is not the only one arriving. Kinswomen have been scouring the landscape looking for allies trying to reach Elayne, but this is the first time they’ve found any large companies. This one is led by a man named Charlz Guybon, and is comprised of almost five thousand loyal Andoran soldiers who were dismissed by Lord Gaebril. He has brought other allies, too, lords and ladies who were also trying to bring forces to Caemlyn, though none are from the Great Houses. Delighted to hear that she now has almost ten thousand more troops, Elayne promotes Guybon from Lieutenant to Captain, and Birgitte declares that this makes him her second in command, at least temporarily.

Birgitte urges Elayne inside, wanting to get her out of her wet clothes as soon as possible, but they are soon waylaid in their journey to Elayne’s quarters when they run into Reanne Corly. She has two former damane with her—one is Kara Defane, who was a Healer on Toman Head before she was captured by the Seanchan, but the other is a Seanchan-born damane named Jillari.

Jillari drops to her knees at the sight of Elayne, but Kara gently redirects her, showing her how to curtsey instead and encouraging Jillari to use the pronoun “I” instead of her name, in the damane way. Reanne encourages the two to continue their walk while she stays to talk to Elayne. Seeing Elayne’s wet state, Reanne suggests they talk on their way to Elayne’s apartments.

Reanne fills Elayne in on Jillari’s progress and then mentions more news: One of the sul’dam, Marli Noichin, has admitted that she can see weaves of saidar. Unfortunately, Marli now believes she needs to be collared and Reanne isn’t sure what to do about it. Elayne replies simply that they will send Marli back to the Seanchan. Reanne is horrified at the idea of condemning any woman to being collared, but Elayne cooly replies that she won’t turn over any sul’dam who expresses regret for her actions and wants to stay and learn to channel, but that the rest deserve a taste of their own medicine. More important, however, is the need to undermine the Seanchan system.

Reanne asks Elayne to consider for a few days before finalizing her decision, and Elayne agrees because it would be more effective to send several sul’dam back at once, to make it harder to cover up their return. But she doubts that she will change her mind about the plan.

Next they run into Mistress Harfor, who also remarks on Elayne’s wet state, to Elayne’s continued and mounting annoyance. Mistress Harfor informs Elayne that the mercenary Captains are waiting to speak to her. Captain Mellar is with them, and Careane and Sareitha are keeping them company while they wait. Birgitte speculates that the men are after more money.

They are also stopped by Chanelle din Seran White Shark, who was left in charge by Zaida, and Renaile, who has been demoted from being Windfinder to the Mistress of the Ships after the death of Nesta din Reas, as is Sea Folk custom.

Chanelle demands to know what progress has been made in finding Talaan and Merilille; Elayne is careful not to shout at her, as it has proven to be useless. Elayne informs her that there is no new news, no trace of them has been found anywhere, and it is clear that the two must have gotten out of the city somehow. Chanelle insists that Merilille kidnapped Talaan and that the Aes Sedai are protecting her, and decides to send Renaile to inform the Aes Sedai at The Silver Swan that they must either produce Merilille and Talaan or pay what they owe to the Sea Folk themselves.

Elayne isn’t happy about this development. She has stayed clear of The Silver Swan, knowing how badly Elaida wants her, but she doesn’t know why none of them have come to see her.

Elayne attempts to make small talk with Chanelle to smooth things over, but when Chanelle remarks that Elayne is soaking wet and should get changed, Elayne literally throws back her head and screams, shocking everyone. Aviendha begins laughing, and Elayne can feel Birgitte’s amusement through the bond. Chanelle just hurries away, and Elayne does her best to gather her dignity as she tries once more to reach her apartments without being interrupted.

I feel a little guilty. We haven’t had any Elayne chapters yet in Knife of Dreams, and I kind of forgot about the fact that Caemlyn came under siege back in chapter 27 of Winter’s Heart. I remembered her search for allies and visits outside Caemlyn, and the arrival of Dyelin’s kids, but I kind of forgot about the fact that there was an active siege. I guess in some ways Elayne’s fight for the throne is less interesting than many other characters’ journeys—a bit more basic, if you will. Not from Elayne’s point of view, of course, but as a reader who is also following things like Faile’s imprisonment and Perrin’s descent into violence, or Mat being fated to marry the future Empress of the Seanchan, or the fact that Egwene has been captured by Elaida. Or that Rand…

Wait, I’ve forgotten what Rand’s up to, as well.

Oh right! He’s going to try to make a truce with the Seanchan and meet the fake Tuon, who will probably end up being Semirhage in disguise. So big things.

I’ve also seen here and there that some fans are not as enthusiastic about Knife of Dreams as other books in the series, and I think I’m kind of starting to see why. This book just doesn’t feel as dense, as complex as many of its predecessors. I’m still finding interesting things to analyze and puzzle over, but mostly because I’m thinking about plot points and character development that was started earlier, and has already been very developed. Most of my observations now are asking how the new moments either inform what came before or will inform what comes later—which isn’t bad, exactly, but it does make the book feel… lighter somehow.

The fact that it is difficult to touch the True Source while pregnant feels a bit too much like a plot device to me. It’s kind of like how comic books and comic book movies are always looking for ways to de-power their heaviest hitters in order to make the situation more challenging, or because the central conflict could be too easily solved by one character’s particular skill set, or because a character was designed as being too powerful to start with. Which isn’t to say that Elayne would be able to solve all her problems with channeling, or even most of them, far from it. After all, Egwene has ordered her to behave as though she is already bound by the Three Oaths, which certainly limits how she could use the One Power to aid her in fighting off Arymilla’s siege. And even if it didn’t, Elayne needs to be careful in how she wins the throne: Using the One Power might not be as taboo (if that’s the right word) as letting non-Andorans help win her throne, but I could see it falling under the same category. From the perspective of the Andoran people, a queen who used the One Power to win the throne might be viewed as having won it unfairly; there is a big difference between being a Queen who is also Aes Sedai and being a Queen because one is Aes Sedai. In the same way, I think the Andorans are fine with there being Aes Sedai support for a prospective Queen (we have seen this political reality come up more than once) but would balk if they felt that the White Tower had chosen their Queen for them, and placed her there themselves. In other words, the fact that she is supported by the White Tower is an asset a contender for the Throne can bring to her bid for it, just as the support of other Houses is.

But there are still a lot of ways that Elayne might be able to use the One Power to strengthen herself and her claim to the throne. Being able to make the gateway herself sometimes might show her strength to her troops, inspiring loyalty, or at least impressing them. She might be able to make wards or find other ways of detecting attacks before they arrive. Just the ability to channel the water from her clothing would certainly have spared her a great deal of grief in these two chapters. 

There is also the comfort that people derive from channeling, and from touching the True Source. We have seen how it makes channelers feel more connected to everything, that it helps them see clearly and to connect with the world around them. Being denied the ability is uncomfortable; Elayne’s struggle is not so bad as being shielded or otherwise cut off from the True Source, but she is probably still feeling the effects of not being able to touch it as often as she would like. We’ve seen how devastating that can be for channelers.

Which leads us into Elayne’s unstable emotions. It is certainly true that hormonal changes during pregnancy can really mess with someone’s emotions, but I think there is more at work here than just the babies’ influence. After all, Elayne is under an enormous amount of stress, and adjusting to a very different life than the one she has been living until recently.

Back when Elayne and Rand’s relationship first began, I remember noting that it would make sense if the Pattern were deliberately pushing them together, because she was able to provide something to him that no one else had: She began teaching him how to be a ruler. Much in the same way that Faile has been teaching Perrin how to be a lord, Elayne’s upbringing gave her lessons that she was able to share with Rand. While he had other people in his life teaching him how to be a warrior and a general, he also needed to learn how to be a king—figuratively and literally. Elayne was the first person to talk to him about the requirements of governing, and although we only saw snippets of these conversations, I imagine she was also able to give him lessons about things (again, like Perrin has had to learn): how to interact with servants and underlings, what the balance is between leading people and serving them.

But though Elayne knows these lessons well, and has been preparing for Queenship her entire life, she also craved freedom, and has shown a keen desire to experience other aspects of life and circles other than the one of Andoran nobility in which she was raised. Like Tuon, she wanted to visit seedy taverns and meet common people, and for a while she has been able to do just that. She had incredible freedom while she was traveling with Nynaeve hunting the Black Ajah: They were passing themselves off as Aes Sedai with all the authority that carried while simultaneously being completely off the White Tower’s radar. There was danger and intrigue, and while much of that was unpleasant, I think Elayne also found it exhilarating. While she still had obligations—to the Tower, to her companions, to the world at large—it was up to her to determine what those were.

Now, back in Caemlyn, she is burdened more specifically and restricted much more vigorously. Even before the pregnancy comes into play, she has to behave like a prospective Queen and interact with servants, soldiers, and fellow nobles in ways that are prescribed by culture and tradition that is far older than Elayne, or her mother, or many of the Queens that came before. She doesn’t get to decide how she reacts to Mistress Harfor, or to the mercenaries, or to Master Norry. She has to control how she is perceived and how she behaves, according to the rules and conventions of her position.

And then there are the rules and conventions of the Sea Folk, to which she is also bound, due to the Bargain to use the Bowl of Winds. And the Aes Sedai, with whom she must interact according to the rules of the White Tower. And then there are rules around how she should handle her pregnancy; the details of exactly how that should be handled might be in dispute, or different from culture to culture, but the concept of there being specific rules and necessities for a pregnant woman is certainly not up for debate.

On top of that, everyone needs her for something. She’s in charge of the Aes Sedai by virtue of being the most powerful one present, which allows more freedom but also means that people need to come to her more frequently. It also means that she needs to do more of the managing of the Sea Folk and the Kin; with greater authority comes great responsibility. It’s no wonder she’s frustrated and overwhelmed. The continual interruption as she tried to make it to her rooms to change was comedic for the reader, but I absolutely understand her scream of frustration. People keep interrupting her and then upbraiding her for their own interruption!

I’m curious if the surprise thunderstorm over the Inner City was the work of some Darkfriend antagonist or if it was perhaps another result of the Dark One’s touch itself. We know he has been affecting the weather on a grand scale, and the sudden appearance of a targeted thunderstorm just over one small part of Caemlyn certainly feels unnatural, if not as unnatural as an entire town of long-dead people appearing on the road and then sinking into the earth like it’s quicksand, dragging living people with it. But it appeared directly over the inner city, an area where important people, like Aes Sedai or the Daughter Heir, are most likely to be, which feels more targeted than random—like the bubbles of evil and similar effects, as far as we know.

It’s a mark either of how busy Elayne is, or how weird life has gotten, or both, that no one follows up on this strange event. The fact that she got distracted enough to forget about the wounded men and their need for healing is also a mark of that, I think, because we’ve seen how compassionate Elayne is, and how tuned into the needs of others. The mercenaries may not be hers in the way that the Guards and the people of Andor are, but they are still people, and under her protection as long as they are serving her.

It will be interesting to see what they want from her, especially since “Mellar” is there. I fully expect him to be plotting something at this point, either under orders or just because he’s that kind of guy. I’m hopeful that Elayne will start seeing through him before long.

I don’t have as much to say about it, but it is interesting to see the Kin’s attitude towards Aes Sedai evolving and changing, and the Aes Sedai’s attitude towards the Kin as well. The two groups are starting to get more used to each other, and as a result, the reader can start to get an idea of what the relationship Egwene envisions might look like, once the rest of the White Tower has accepted and adjusted to Egwene’s plans. I particularly noted Guybon’s confusion over Asra Zigane not being Aes Sedai, because it reminded me that most of the world still thinks that the only channelers are Aes Sedai. What will it look like when it is common for there to be different orders of channelers, when the whole world knows about the Kin and the Sea Folk, and that they are connected to but separate from the White Tower? What other organizations might develop to make a place for all the new channelers that are being discovered but who might not fit well into one of these already existing groups? It’s interesting to ponder, especially when you remember that there can be male channelers now, ones who do not have to worry about insanity from the taint or being made into living weapons to fight in the Last Battle.

The development with Jillari made me really happy, given how very difficult it has proven to deprogram even those who have been damane only for a short time, never mind those who were collared as teenagers and may have worn the a’dam for dozens or even hundreds of years. Maybe women like Kara are the key to helping the damane; Kara was collared for a time and Jillari might feel a kinship to her as a result. One wonders if this perspective might be shared by other damane. I also wonder what would happen if some freed damane were given into the care of reformed sul’dam—not using the a’dam, of course, but if a sul’dam was truly to discard the Seanchan perspective, her knowledge of how damane are treated and talked to might help find ways to teach her how to understand and embrace freedom.

Marli is also an interesting development. I can empathize with Elayne’s perspective, both the logical and the emotional. The desire to punish an unrepentant sul’dam is understandable, and while an eye-for-an-eye is not perhaps the wisest form of justice, it is one that has a certain appeal to it, especially in the face of truly terrible actions. While it is deeply cruel to subject anyone to the fate of being made damane, if one group of sul’dam is sacrificed to bring about change to the Seanchan way of dealing with channelers, so many women might be saved. One can argue the morality of sacrificing a few for the sake of the many, but I can certainly see why it would seem a fair trade, especially when the sul’dam themselves are not innocents.

Reanne Corly is one of the most interesting minor characters in the story, I think, and I would love to see her prove Egwene wrong and join the Green Ajah, although I can’t imagine that will happen before the end of the series—there’s no chance she’ll have time to train and pass the tests before the Last Battle arrives. Still, maybe we’ll get a footnote or something.

Charlz Guybon may have a silly name, but he’s an intriguing new addition to the cast, especially because he is a loyal Andoran soldier and brought so many of them back to Caemlyn with him. Tallanvor may have been the last loyal holdout, but it’s nice to see that not everyone that Rahvin screwed over has lost their dedication to their duty and to the Trakand family. It makes me happy for Elayne, and also for Morgase, who was a great and beloved ruler before the Forsaken and Compulsion interfered. She deserves a win, even if it’s a small one that she won’t directly experience.

Before we go, it has occurred to me while writing that there is actually one very practical in-universe reason for pregnancy to interfere with channeling. It’s possible that this is a product of evolution/the Creator’s design. We know that working with the One Power can be very dangerous, that there is always a temptation to draw more and more, perhaps past the amount that one can safely channel. There are also ways to kill or burn yourself out, such as studying ter’angreal and probably lots more than haven’t been mentioned in the text (or that I have forgotten). And most of all, not every woman born with the spark is guaranteed to end up being found or given teaching. If a woman like Nynaeve, who survived touching the True Source and ended up with her own rudimentary, possibly unconscious control of the One Power, was never found by a teacher and lived her life out without ever fully learning about her ability, she might very well be in danger of hurting herself or a possible unborn child without realizing it. If pregnancy naturally dampened someone’s ability to touch the True Source, a pregnant person would be less likely to bring that kind of harm to themselves, or to their child while carrying it.

It’s also possible that some danger exists if the baby is male. Since channeling appears to be at least partially hereditary, perhaps it would be a problem if an unborn child possessed the mechanism that will one day allow him to channel saidin, but he was being carried by a channeler of saidar. A bit like how a gestating parent and a fetus can sometimes have a blood type or Rh incompatibility, which can put both parties at risk for certain problems.

It’s an interesting thought. At least Elayne knows that nothing like that will happen to her children, since Min’s viewing says they will be safe at least until they are born, as will she. I guess I can’t blame her for taking chances, because knowing that Min’s viewings always come true would give anyone a bit of a sense of invincibility, making big risks for big rewards almost impossible alluring.

Knowing what I know of how fiction works, however, makes me think something really dangerous and awful is going to happen to Elayne right after, or possibly during, her giving birth. So there’s something to worry about.

We’ll be staying with Elayne next week as we continue on to chapters 15 and 16, hopefully to find out that Mellar’s getting kicked out of the Guards. I’m looking forward to finding out what the title “A Different Skill” refers to, as well.