Last week in Reading the Wheel of Time, we covered Chapter 18 and just the end of Chapter 19, so that I could talk about all our Black Ajah and Darkfriend problems at once. I always enjoy Liandrin chapters, and when the character of Fain is at his best and most political and scheme-y he’s fascinating too. I have so many questions about what influence he may have had on Elaida—I had assumed he’d be sticking around the White Tower causing problems for a lot longer. But he has Rand to worry about anyway, and Elaida has more than enough problems that she doesn’t know she has with Alviarin at her side.
But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today. Today we’re going back to the beginning of Chapter 19, in which Morgase’s resistance to Rahvin’s compulsions finally comes to a head. Also this is the thirteenth post for The Fires of Heaven, so hurray for lucky number 13! Let’s hope it brings some lucky to Morgase, because she really needs it.
Morgase is in her sitting room with a book when a young guard interrupts her. She can’t quite figure out why she’s been wasting the whole day reading, which is very unlike her, and then realizes she hasn’t even turned a page in the last hour anyway. After a moment she remembers the man’s name, Guardsman Lieutenant Martyn Tallanvor. Tallanvor tells her that he is surprised to see her in her rooms given the news, and Morgase asks what he’s talking about before getting distracted thinking about how nice it would be to hear something other than the gossip she’s been sharing with Alteima while Gaebril sits and watches them. Then she recalls herself when she realizes that Tallanvor had been speaking but stopped when he realized that she wasn’t listening. She asks him to tell her again, and to get up from his kneeling position.
He rose, face angry, eyes burning on her before they dropped again. She looked where he had been staring and blushed; her dress was cut extremely low. But Gaebril liked her to wear them so. With that thought she ceased fretting about being nearly naked in front of one of her officers.
Morgase thinks that she should have him flogged for being angry with his Queen, and for thinking his news so important that he could barge into her rooms. But all her anger is forgotten when he tells her that news is of rebellion, and that someone has raised the banner of Manetheren in the Two Rivers.
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Something about the Two Rivers sparks Morgase’s memory, but she can’t quite put her finger on what. And even though the Two Rivers has been barely a part of Andor for generations, she knows that any rebellion can spread, especially with the way the name of Manetheren still holds some people’s imagination. And the Two Rivers is hers, even if it has been allowed to go its own way for too long.
She asks if Lord Gaebril has been informed, though of course if he had he would have come straight to her with the news. She is shocked when Tallanvor tells her that he has, and that Gaebril only laughed and, after remarking that the Two Rivers seemed to throw up trouble, called it a minor annoyance that would have to wait its turn. Morgase is on her feet at once, and Tallanvor gives a grim smile as she sweeps past him out of the room. She finds Gaebril in a courtyard surrounded by courtiers, only half of whom Morgase even recognizes. And those that she does know are all political enemies of hers, nobles who opposed her during the Succession, and who she hardly allows into Caemlyn at all, except for state occasions.
And none of them seem to pay Morgase any more attention than they would to a servant. She interrupts to tell Gaebril that she would like to speak to him alone about the Two Rivers, and he brushes her off, calling her my dear and telling her to go back to her room. Morgase responds that she thinks not, that he will come with her now and that the others will leave the Palace before she returns or she will exile them from Caemlyn.
Suddenly he was on his feet, a big man, towering over her. She seemed unable to look at anything but his dark eyes; her skin tingled as if an icy wind were blowing through the courtyard. “You will go and wait for me, Morgase.” His voice was a distant roar filling her ears. “I have dealt with all that needs dealing with. I will come to you this evening. You will go now. You will go.”
Morgase is about to enter her sitting room before she realizes where she is and what just happened, and is horrified when she thinks of the smirks and laughter on the courtiers’ faces. She wonders desperately what has happened to her, how she could have become so besotted, even as she still feels the urge to go in and wait for him. But she doesn’t go in, and forces herself to walk away.
She decides that the only explanation for what she saw is that Gaebril is plotting against her. He knows that every one of those nobles he was sitting with are ones who only swore allegiance to her under duress, and since he already has her behaving like his lapdog, she supposes that he doesn’t intend to put one of the other women on the throne, but to take it for himself and become the first King of Andor. And yet even as she thinks these things, she feels the desire to go back to her room and wait for him.
She finds herself in the Pensioner’s Quarters, heading for her old nurse’s room. Going in without knocking, she finds that Lini is not there, although there’s a steaming kettle over the small fire in the fireplace.
Six painted ivory miniatures in small wooden stands made a line on the mantelpiece. How Lini could have afforded them on a nurse’s stipend was more than Morgase had ever been able to imagine; she could not ask such a question, of course. In pairs, they showed three young women and the same three as babes. Elayne was there, and herself. Taking down the portrait of herself at fourteen, a slender filly of a girl, she could not believe that she had ever looked so innocent. She had worn that ivory silk dress the day she had gone to the White Tower, never dreaming at the time that she would be Queen, only harboring the vain hope that she might become Aes Sedai.
Lini comes in, speaking irreverently to Morgase and treating her just like the girl she had once been. She supposes Morgase must have something she needs to work out, since she hasn’t come to see Lini in some time. Morgase is confused, she comes to see Lini every week, but Lini assures her that she hasn’t seen Morgase since the spring. Her head is still muddled, and she admits that she doesn’t know why she has come, since Lini can’t help her with her problem.
But Lini, to Morgase’s amazement, tells her that Gaebril is her problem. Everyone knows, but no one had the courage to tell her; it wouldn’t have done any good because it’s not something a woman will believe until she sees it for herself. Morgase is furious, insisting that it was everyone’s duty to tell her, and that now it may be too late to change it. Lini responds that all she needs to do is bundle Gaebril, Alteima, and the others out of Andor and be done with them. For a moment Morgase can’t speak, then she asks. “Alteima and… the others?”
Lini calls herself a fool for bringing it up, but since “the honey’s out of the comb,” she tells Morgase that Gaebril keeps Alteima and five others in the Palace, plus one which he bundles in and out wrapped in a cloak. Morgase, horrified, remembers all the time Gaebril sat watching her and Alteima gossip together and finds it more difficult to keep her cool and be level-headed about this revelation than she does about his plot to take her throne. She wants him killed, flayed alive, and yet at the same time she wants his touch and thinks that she must be going mad.
She names those she trusts, asking where they are, and Lini, giving her a perplexed look, explaining that Morgase had all of them exiled, and one of them, Ellorien, she had flogged for demanding to know why. Morgase is shocked, especially as Ellorien had been one of her first supporters as well as a close friend, though now she can dimly remember the flogging, and her manner is so distraught that Lini checks to see if she has a fever and asks if she is well.
“I do not care what you say,” Lini said firmly. “You have no fever, but there’s something wrong. You need an Aes Sedai Healer is what you need.”
Morgase rejects that suggestion, knowing that some people might see her growing animosity towards the Tower as unreasonable, but unable to trust anyone who seemed to be trying to hide Elayne from her. She can’t stand the idea of having an Aes Sedai near her, although she does feel a great swell of pride thinking that Elayne might be the first Queen of Andor to be an actual Aes Sedai. Elayne can’t become Queen, however; Morgase first has to secure the throne for her.
She asks if Lini would recognize a Guardsman named Tallanvor, and when Lini nods, sends her to bring him, warning Lini to make sure everyone in the Pensioner’s Quarters knows not to reveal where she is. Lini is beginning to realize that there’s more to this Gaebril thing than she’s yet realized, and hurries off to do as she’s bid, while Morgase sits and waits and fights the urge to follow Gaebril’s orders. The urge is so strong that she’s afraid even to stand, lest her feet carry her back there, and she knows somehow that once he came to her she would forgive him everything, maybe even forget it entirely, based on what she has learned of her memory now. She almost feels as if he must be using the One Power on her in some way, except that no man who could channel ever survived to Gaebril’s age.
She thinks about her prior relationships, about her political marriage to Taringail, who was cold and distant and a relief to be rid of when he died in a hunting accident. About Thom, who had been her house bard and then her court bard, who she might have married.
…but he vanished without a word, and her temper got the better of her. She never had learned why he had gone, but it did not matter. When he finally returned she would surely have rescinded the arrest order, but for once instead of softly turning her anger aside he had met her harsh word for harsh word, saying things she could never forgive. Her ears still burned to remember being called a spoiled child and a puppet of Tar Valon. He had actually shaken her, his queen!
There was Gareth Bryne, strong and capable and as stubborn as Morgase, who had turned out to be a treasonous fool and who she thinks she is well rid of. And finally Gaebril, the worst of all.
Lini finally returns with Tallanvor, who kneels respectfully and observes that her meeting with Gaebril did not go well. She calls him a sharp lad, upsetting him, but she reminds him that he is still her Queen and he apologizes. His eyes are still defiant though, and Morgase thinks that he is as stubborn as Bryne was. From Tallanvor she learns that he is the only Guardsman left who is loyal to her; all the others have been replaced by Gaebril’s men, who swore their oaths to “throne and law” rather than to the Queen. Morgase must look to the outer Houses to establish her rule. She has a vague memory of Gaebril stopping her from leaving on other occasions, and realizes that she must sneak out. She suggests meeting behind the south stables, but Tallanvor thinks that is too risky, as she might be recognized by some of Gaebril’s men even in disguise. He suggests the inn called the Queen’s Blessing, and Morgase agrees to meet him there.
“Basel Gill is as loyal to you as I am myself.” He hesitated, anguish crossing his face then being replaced by anger once more. “Why have you waited so long? You must have known, you must have seen, yet you have waited while Gaebril tightened his hands around Andor’s neck. Why have you waited?”
Morgase thinks that his anger is honestly come by and deserves an honest answer, but since she has none to give him she only tells Tallanvor that it is not his place to question his Queen and sends him on his way. Lini asks why Morgase kept calling him “young” Tallanvor, and Morgase answers that he is young enough to be her son.
Lini snorted, and this time there was nothing delicate about it. “He has a few years on Galad, and Galad is too old to be yours. You were playing with dolls when Tallanvor was born, and thinking babes came the same way as dolls.”
She also tells Morgase that Tallanvor is still in the Palace because he swore the new oath along with the rest of the men, but Lini saw him later behind the stables, kneeling with tears on his face and and apologizing aloud to Morgase. She saw him swear an oath in the ancient way, cutting his arm with his sword, and he swore not just to the “Queen of Andor” but to “Queen Morgase of Andor.” This is how Lini knew who Morgase meant, and she is confident that this one will follow her no matter what.
Morgase has snuck out of the Palace before, disguising herself so that she could walk among the people and take the mood of the city; she knows how to darken her hair with soot, and in an ill-fitting wool dress with sweat rolling own her face she is hardly recognizable. Lini insists on coming too, and they sneak out of the Palace. Morgase asks directions carefully, and no one recognizes her although one man tells her she looks a little like the Queen. At the Queen’s Blessing the reunite with Tallanvor, Basel Gill, the Innkeeper, Lamgwin the bouncer, and a woman named Breane, who Morgase pegs as a refugee from Cairhien, probably of the nobility, and who claims that she is coming not for love or Morgase, but for love of Lamgwin. They kneel before her, and Morgase thanks them for their loyalty.
A fine seed for the army to retake her throne: One young soldier who scowled at her as often as not, a balding innkeeper who looked as if he had not been on a horse in twenty years, a street tough who appeared more than half-asleep, and a refugee Cairhienin noblewoman who had made it clear that her loyalties went only as far as the tough. And Lini, of course. Lini, who treated her as though she were still in the nursery. Oh, yes, a very fine seed.
Gill asks her where they are going, and Morgase is surprised to realize that she hasn’t thought that far ahead. She wonders if Gaebril is still fogging her mind, aware that even now she has to concentrate not to return to her sitting room. Before she can answer the question, Tallanvor tells her that they must go to Gareth Bryne. If they can get him on their side the other houses will follow, if only because they know that he will win.
She clamped her teeth shut to hold back instant refusal. Bryne was a traitor. But he was also one of the finest generals alive. His presence would be a convincing argument when she had to make Pelivar and the rest forget that she had exiled them. Very well. No doubt he would leap at the chance to be Captain-General of the Queen’s Guards once more. And if not, she would manage well enough without him.
When the sun touched the horizon, they were five miles out of Caemlyn and riding hard for Kore Springs.
I find it fascinating seeing how the effects of Rahvin’s ongoing Compulsion differ from the one Moghedien used on Nynaeve. When Nynaeve broke the Compulsion that Moghedien put on her, the one that forced Nynaeve to forget their previous encounter, it seemed to go all at once, with the entire memory coming back clearly, to the point that Nynaeve could actually recognize the effects of that same weave, that moment of love and devotion that almost touches her at the start of their duel. But what Rahvin is doing to Morgase is much more complex for a number of different reasons—it is ongoing, it’s not a single directive but many different Compulsions at different times, and he is still hiding his identity while manipulating her, never letting her see what he is doing. While Moghedien wasn’t worried about what she might reveal to Nynaeve and Egwene because she was just going to Compel them to forget it, Rahvin has to navigate a much more complex situation. After all, even he can’t Compel a whole palace full of people. He had to work up to his coup gradually, and he has to be able to keep up his Compulsion of Morgase even though she’ll be regularly able to witness that the facts don’t always line up with what the Compulsion is telling her.
Strong minds resist Compulsion, fighting back against it—Nynaeve’s mind almost immediately rejected Moghedien’s Compulsion as soon as she saw the Forsaken’s face again. So we can imagine that the fewer discrepancies Morgase can see between her own observations and what the Compulsion tells her, the easier it will be for Rahvin to hold her mind. That’s why it was so necessary to get her allies out of the Palace. It’s not just that they would resist Rahvin’s takeover, it’s that their presence would remind Morgase of how things should be. Morgase doesn’t even notice that her friends are gone, but if she was simply Compelled to regard them as enemies, that control would be tested every time she saw their faces again.
I am curious if Rahvin also used Compulsion to make Morgase forget what had happened after she exiled her friends and allies, or if that’s merely a side effect of what’s being done to her mind. It might be that the two truths—the one of what happened, and the one of what should be—are so in opposition to each other that they can’t hold space in her mind at the same time. Or it might be that there are side effects to being subjected to strong and ongoing Compulsion, to the point that Morgase’s memory might be damaged, or even her mind as a whole. It’s a chilling thought, but it does seem likely, given the way that the One Power works. And it would explain why she isn’t actually reading at the beginning of the Chapter: She’s losing time for more reasons than just being Compelled to forget.
It’s also possible, I suppose, that she’s losing that time, not actually reading when she’s clearly been sent by Rahvin to do so, because she’s fighting his control. Generally, it seems like there is a clear correlation between how much her mind resists and how antithetical the command is to her nature. Now that she can see how bad things are, now that such irrefutable evidence has been presented to her as Gaebril consorting with her enemies and the fact that when they matched wills she was immediately bent to his, her mind can no longer accept the Compulsion, even though its effects are still strong. She’s been seeking a way out all this time, and we see that physically when her apparent wanderings take her to Lini’s apartments.
I don’t particularly care for the trope of Lini’s character, although it’s really too early to say if I dislike her or not. I think one of Jordan’s flaws as a writer is that he tends to repeat a lot of details, like having characters (Siuan and Lini are two examples of this) use catch phrases or sayings more often than seems realistic, or having too many of repetitions of the same gags (Nynaeve’s hair pulling, the fact that bad tasting medicine is constantly used as a punishment) to the point where it starts to get silly. Elayne has referenced Lini a lot, like a lot, and it sort of put me off the character before I even met her.
I did enjoy her banter with Morgase in the beginning of their conversation, however, and it was a nice bit of levity in an otherwise very fraught and sad section. I can imagine few things more terrifying than feeling like your mind and memories aren’t clear, that you’ve done things you can’t understand or even remember. And when you add in the fact that Morgase has nearly lost her kingdom—indeed, she effectively has lost her kingdom in all but name—and the fact that no one, even Morgase herself, knows that it wasn’t carelessness or laziness or lovesickness that lost her throne, but a form of channeling and manipulation used against her by one of the Forsaken, it’s more than anyone could expect to bear.
I did appreciate Lini more when she recognized that there was something more wrong with Morgase than a mere infatuation with a man, that she needed Healing from an Aes Sedai. Morgase has been acting out of character for months, and it’s only because she’s been cut off from those who know and love her that no one has caught it yet. I find myself grinding my teeth whenever Morgase’s change in dress style is mentioned, or when other characters observe her infatuation with Gaebril. Even Alteima notices how different it is from the woman she met before, and she hardly knows Morgase at all. I wonder if Rahvin had to use the Compulsion or other tricks on some of Morgase’s friends and advisors, if only to keep them quiet until they could be dismissed or exiled.
And yet there are some aspects of the Compulsion that still hold, even though Morgase has broken through much of what was clouding her mind. On the one hand, we see her successfully fighting the need to return to her chambers as he ordered her to, and we see that she is flummoxed by her actions towards Ellorien, even though she has a hazy memory of them. And yet when Gareth Bryne’s name comes up, there is no question in her mind that he is a traitor. It doesn’t appear that Rahvin put any story behind that belief, either; Morgase simply knows that he is a traitor. And she’s going with Tallanvor’s suggestion only because of its tactical soundness, not because some part of her suspects that Bryne is other than what she believes him to be. So I’m guessing Rahvin must have really laid into her with this particular Compulsion. Of course it was quite important to separate Morgase from her most trusted advisor, the man who was also her lover, and also a brilliant tactician who could be a formidable enemy to “Gaebril” if he suspected any duplicity. Tallanvor sees his strategic importance now, so no doubt Rahvin recognized one of the greatest threats to his coup.
I do wonder if the Compulsion will be strained, or even break entirely, when she sees Bryne in person, since it is quite at odds with how she saw him before. On the other hand Rahvin seems to have used Compulsion to strengthen her distrust of the Aes Sedai, but it’s not surprising to me that it would stick easily. Since Morgase was already so angry with Siuan and concerned for her daughter, a Compulsion to hate and distrust the White Tower would already be nearly aligned with Morgase’s own mind. But let’s turn aside from Rahvin’s influence for a moment, because I had no idea Morgase became Queen so young.
I knew she was pretty young, and Morgase has always been presented as quite youthful, though she is old enough to have a teenage daughter. It makes me even more impressed with Morgase, her strength, wisdom, and kindheartedness as a ruler are even more notable when you realize she was about eighteen when she took the Lion Throne, and only fifteen when she started vying for the succession. All the decisions that she made to pardon those who had opposed her and to make the political marriage to Taringail, were made by someone who was nearly still a child. And she has managed to keep Andor united all this time, and to be a strong and respected ruler. No wonder Elayne feels so much pressure to live up to the legends of queens past—she’s around the age that her mother was when she became Queen, although Elayne herself has no reason to suspect that she will be crowned anytime soon. (Although I wonder if what’s happening now will have any bearing on if and when Elayne ascends to the Lion Throne.) And it makes Morgase’s insistence on Tallanvor’s youth extra amusing, too. I imagine she’s accustomed to noting and emphasizing it whenever she deals with someone who is even a little bit younger than herself, since she has been a powerful political figure surrounded by other powerful political figures who were older than her for most of her reign.
There’s a bit in here that confused me, when Morgase was remembering being given the Great Serpent ring after she ascended to the Lion Throne. Her inner narrative remarks that she “had not earned that, precisely; women who could not channel were not awarded the ring.” I assume this is just a simplification; we know that plenty of women who can channel might train in the Tower as a novice but not be strong enough to attain the status of Accepted. But I was also under the impression that Morgase could channel a little, that she went to the Tower out of tradition but she actually also had some small skill. I think it was brought up by Siuan or someone in regards to Elayne, but now I can’t remember where I read it.
I like the parallel of Morgase and Elayne both having to be in disguise at the same time, though for different reasons and in different parts of the world. And both of them, of course, have to cover the distinctive color of their hair. I also like the mental picture of Morgase pulling a Princess Jasmine and sneaking out into the city to get a taste of the life of a commoner. She’s pretty cool, this Queen of Andor, and I really really want her to get the support and help she needs. But nothing ever goes that smoothly in Randland, and as Tarmon Gai’don is still many books away, I have a feeling things are going to get worse—for Morgase and everyone else—before they get better.
There’s just something so painful about the fact that no one knows the truth about what’s happening to Morgase, how none of this is her fault the way even her supporters, like Tallanvor and Lini, see it to be. Tallanvor’s anger towards Morgase is completely reasonable without the detail that Gaebril is one of the Forsaken and that he is using Compulsion on Morgase. She herself is aware of it, and acknowledges that he deserves to know the reason, if only she had one. And I think it speaks to an incredible strength of character in Tallanvor that he never allowed his anger and disappointment in Morgase to shake his loyalty to her. It would have been easy for him to lose faith in his queen when she didn’t act competently and with an eye towards her kingdom before her own apparent interest, but although he is upset with her, his loyalty never wavers.
I could have cried with relief when Lini realized that there was something else at play, and I desperately hope that someone will soon figure out that Morgase’s mind was being manipulated. By Morgase’s own admission she can sometimes be hot-headed and manipulated by her emotions when it comes to men (at least that seems to be what happened with Thom) but that has always been on a personal front, and she has never before (as far as I can tell) let it affect her rule. Morgase is right to say that it was someone’s duty to tell her about what was going on… although I’m guessing that at least some of those other exiled Lords and Ladies did, or at least tried. But Rahvin still got to Morgase in time to forestall everything. I often praise Jordan’s skill with dramatic irony, and I suppose I must do so here as well because it’s objectively well done but also… aauughh!
Speaking of Thom, it’s interesting to get that story from the other side. I can understand why he was hurt by Morgase’s arrest order, but it sounds like he also let his newfound—or at least newly heightened—hatred of the Aes Sedai color his reaction to her when he returned. What we’ve heard from his point of view suggested it was she who acted unreasonably, but Morgase’s account shows that they were both a little bit at fault. And I suppose this just shows how relationships with age gaps can run into problems—you never want your lover/future spouse to think of you as a child. Also, the reminder that Thom was already a lot older than Morgase makes the whole Thom/Elayne thing even more disturbing and I hope that stops soon.
Next week we’re taking a break from regular Chapter recaps so I can go back and talk about Siuan and a particular scene from a few weeks ago that won’t leave my mind. It feels worthy of its own essay, so I am going to give it that. Please stay safe and stay well, friends. And I’ll see you on Tuesday!
Sylas K Barrett is rooting for Morgase, and would like to slap anyone of her friends who decided she was just too blinded by love for a terrible guy to see sense. That kind of sexist nonsense might have turned Andor over to one of the Forsaken, and is unacceptable. There. I said it.
As always, nice job Sylas.
“…I have a feeling things are going to get worse—for Morgase and everyone else—before they get better.” Candidate for understatement of the century.
I’m disappointed that Sylas didn’t realize that Breane was yet another example of the rule of conservation of characters, as she was one of the team of female nobles trying to seduce Rand during his time in Carhien in TGH.
Mods, there’s a bit of a grammatical issue in this sentence:
Maybe this should say “rarely” (or “never”) instead of “only”?
Personally, I would axe almost the entire Morgase plotline from the books. It never amounts to anything and is not really all that interesting.
@2, we’ve updated that bit so it reads a little more clearly, thanks!
I don’t mind the Morgase plotine as much, but it does in some ways lead to the succession crisis which needed to be wrapped up a little sooner. On the other hand, I also kind of appreciate the way even in the end of the world there are still these types of crises even if it drags things on.
Of coures thanks to this we get even more frustration from Gawyn.
I’ve always found Morgase’s experiences to be among the most upsetting in the WoT series. She is abused to varying degrees by Rahvin, Pedron Niall, Eamon Valda, and Sevanna, and for nearly all this time both she and others consider this all to be her own fault.
Most of the characters whom fate treats as chew toys are Darkfriends for whom we never feel much sympathy (e.g. Jaichim Carridin, Liandrin, Galina). Morgase is guilty only of being queen of a country that Rahvin wants to rule, and of not having the ability to defend herself against one of the Forsaken.
As a side note, Sylas seems to expect Morgase to actually find Gareth Bryne. He’s forgotten that Gareth Bryne has gone wandering off after Siuan. It’s more reasonable that Sylas didn’t remember Breane, who was a pretty minor character when she last showed up several books ago.
I think Morgase’s story was interesting for awhile. I think it was good of RJ to respect her as a proper character and not just an obstacle to Elayne becoming queen. On the other hand, her plotline contributes to the story bloat of the later books because once started, it has to be brought to a conclusion. Not that there is a satisfactory conclusion or payoff for this narrative jaunt.
Hah, I completely forgot about Breane too.
@8 Thom had the funny quote back in TGH to the effect that she could give any man an education he wouldn’t soon forget.
I believe it’s stated somewhere that prolonged compulsion can damage the mind. Morgase has been engage in a constant mental battle against Rahvin’s control for some considerable time and she has taken damage. Her judgement, as we see, is not what it was and her temper is all over the place. And it certainly doesn’t help that she and the people with her think this mess is all her own fault. Morgase starts projecting dysfunction back on all her romances which is clearly unfair. Taringail was a bastard married for political reasons but Thom and Gareth really loved her. The break up with Thom had very little to do with their relationship and a lot to do with pressures he hid from her. And Gareth Byrne is incredibly mature about the end of his romance. He accepts that Morgase has a right to fall out of love with him and in love with somebody else. What he can’t accept is the political changes she makes under Gaebril’s influence. Had they met again he would undoubtedly have been ready to forgive the woman and help the queen mend her errors. Which of course is why Morgase can’t be allowed to find him because this plotline has to run on.
It is strongly implied that Breane has had a very rough time since we saw her last and her values have completely changed. She doesn’t care about wealth and power anymore. She’s found a good man and she means to keep him, and keep him safe. Her hostility towards Morgase is rooted in fear of the danger supporting the former queen will put Lamgwin in.
@6:
Morgase’s plotline, at least, would feel right at home in A Song of Ice and Fire, if not the actual writing itself. This is the most realistic plotline in the entire series. And, yes, the most disturbing.
@7:
The problem with Morgase’s plot line is the bloat of the second half of the series. If that was tighter, her plotline would work well. The purpose of her plotline is to place her as an intermediary between Perrin and Galad, and to position her to bring closure to Perrin’s Whitecloak arc. It also helps resolve the “rebellion” brought up in this very chapter when it starts. It’s obvious that her plotline was always meant to intercept Perrin’s—that’s why the Two Rivers “rebellion” is used as the spark of her journey here. It’s the PLOD that is the problem, in my mind.
@12, I agree with you. Obviously Morgase has to be put out of the way so Elayne can become queen. Equally obviously Perrin and Galad would never have joined forces without her as go between and they need to be allies for the Final Battle. She is also the catalyst that changes Galad from following orders to leading the Children in a new direction. Morgase’s odyssey is not pointless or unncessary but it is bloated by the damme PLOD!
MODS: it’s Lamgwin, not Langwin. Also Bryne is misspelled as Bryn once.
@10 – “Thom and Gabriel really lovedher…” Surely you meant Gareth, not Gaebril. Although my mind sometimes brings up Gabriel Byrne too when thinking of Gaebril and Bryne.
@14 – Fixed, thanks!
@13:
Sorry, my comment @12 was directed @7… I’ve corrected it!
I do think this plotline is one likely to be excised from the TV series entirely. I think Perrin’s plotline will be the one most massively restructured, and Morgase will probably get the ax for real in the TV show.
@13 – Necessary in the sense of how it worked out in the series, but not necessary for RJ to write it that way. He could have simply killed Morgase off and resolved the Perrin & Whitecloak issue a different way. That would have saved a lot of narrative space. My theory, and this was back when RJ was still alive and writing, was that he fell in love with different plotline possibilities and just threw them into the pot. It was like he threw an ingredient into a mixing bowl; he didn’t know exactly what he was making or how it would come out, but he really liked that ingredient. So the series became what we got: a sprawling mess with too many side-plots.
Please dont put spoilers in your title. Its insanely toxic for readers.
@17 I am one of those people who isn’t so super excited about the TV series. I loved GoT when it was adapted and watching people freak out for 4 seasons at each wowsers points through those strong first 3 books. But honestly I don’t think WoT will get to book 5 as a show. Even making it to Book 3 would be a win.
Well, we’re definitely getting 16 episodes (Amazon has already renewed for Season 2), and based on the production news coming out of Prague, they will be doing all of the eye of the world and at least part of The Great Hunt in the first 8 episodes. And Amazon is not at all quick to cancel their own shows. The odds of getting four seasons are pretty high. The odds of getting five are still pretty good. That’s 40 episodes, with the first book being done in 4-6 episodes, depending on whose speculation you believe.
Amazon is not like network TV, or even HBO. They don’t need people to watch the show the night it comes out. That metric does nothing for them. Someone who watches this year is the same value to them as someone who watches in 10 years. If they don’t have a complete story arc, then the show has no value to them as content down the road.
They’re not dummies. They’re investing at least $120M in the first season, and likely more for the second season. If they can keep the cost of the cast down when their contracts renew in Season 3, Amazon is likely to try to have something resembling a completed product. They wouldn’t have purchased the series otherwise, because their value play is in the long term, not short term advertisers.
I share the … horror, I think is not too strong of a word, yes, horror for the Morgase plotline. She is presented as an entirely admirable character and I can’t think of a single character who is so soiled, abused and degraded as she ends up being.
In the beginning, right here in this chapter, I did like how it seemed she was reclaiming herself and was going to rally good virtuous Andormen to her cause and eject ‘Gaebril’ and his cronies from her palace. I also did like the insertion of political tension that must have been lurking in Andor since House Trakand is a new dynasty and of course, there must have been other powerful noblewomen who vied for the Lion Throne.
Of all the characters in all the books, I think I have the most sympathy for Morgase, whom we initially meet as an intelligent and just woman in a commanding position, and whom is then systematically ground underfoot and who doesn’t regain her footing for more or less the entire rest of the series. There are others who suffer — a lot of people are broken by the Seanchan, including the Panarch of Tarabon, for example — but Morgase stands alone in being a consistent viewpoint character who doesn’t in any sense deserve what’s happening to her, and who yet gets abused by every antagonist in the series until she fetches up with Perrin — and even Perrin winds up treating her as a maidservant.
I appreciate when she finally gets to sit in judgement, but quite frankly I wish it’d come a lot sooner so there was more room for exploration of what happens *after* everyone finds out who and where she is.
I can’t imagine one of Graendal’s “pets” breaking free of her Compulsion. Yet the WoT Companion, for whatever its ranking system is worth, allegedly ranks Rahvin as the third-strongest channeler in all of WoT. From the TFOH Prologue, it didn’t sound like he was using a gentler touch of it on Morgase than he could have, given his concern about her ongoing struggles against it. Though that would make sense — he still needs her to act somewhat human in public, not a mindless husk with no thoughts or actions but serving him. Though Graendal is said to be an unequaled master of Compulsion due to her knowledge of the human brain, but Rahvin has had a great deal of practice. And, uh, I guess he didn’t tie off the weave on Morgase to make it un-removable? I dunno. Compulsion is complicated.
The “big-eyed young thing” Rahvin has been smuggling into the palace is the newly-raised Red Ajah spy who reported to him in the TFOH Prologue.
“At my age, if I make it up, it’s still an old saying.” Ha. Lini is great in this chapter, aside from whatever she said about “displaying wares you did not mean to sell.”
One of the things I find most interesting about this chapter (fragment) is the insights it offers into Elayne, who is, at this point in the story, transitioning from supporting cast to major protagonist in her own right. Moiraine & Anaiya hint at aspects of Morgase’s personality when discussing the dangers that might have prevented Elayne from coming to Tar Valon for her training, saying that because of her own failure to be Aes Sedai, Morgase would never let anything come between Elayne and the same chance. It also implies something of a “more Catholic than the Pope” attitude that might explain her refusal to back down in the face of the widespread disapproval among her subjects of her relationship with Tar Valon, although geopolitical realities would explain why she goes along with the Tower’s disastrous interference.
Anyway, we see in this chapter that Morgase is insecure about her preparedness for the throne when she inherited. She has reigned for about 25 years, longer than Moiraine has been a full sister, and it’s still on her mind how unready she was to assume the role of queen. This explains her training Elayne so hard, with such demanding expectations and little praise. Elayne will prove to have been very competent, and not just out of a devotion to Morgase, but of sifting through the advice of various mentors and weighing it for the situation. So Morgase did better than just train a clone or drill her method into Elayne, even if her never being able to feel like Elayne was ready has left Elayne with some insecurities about her own ability to live up to the standards Morgase has set for her.
Another thing with Elayne is her commitment to abstract ideals and standards over her own desires or emotional needs. We have a handful of anecdotes about Morgase letting her own emotions take over, such as sending the top general in Andor to hunt down her boyfriend after her left without a goodbye kiss, or that taking in swarms of refugees to the detriment of her subjects seems like something Thom thinks she would do out of compassion, or the aforementioned devotion to the Tower… but the way they are presented suggests exceptions that prove the rule, that these things stand out as aberrations. Gill talking about people tiptoeing around her after her breakup with Thom points to the fact that normally people don’t live in fear of her, and that she’s otherwise fairly approachable. Even some people thoroughly done with the Aes Sedai influence on the crown still admire her and wish her well. So the emotional or temperamental incidences show a person with powerful emotions, who nonetheless is in control the vast majority of the time. And that too, is something she has inculcated in Elayne, again, probably out of chagrin at her own mistakes. Elayne actually feels bad that if pressed, she might not be able to say Rand’s death is worth saving the world. Most people feel like that. It’s why people in charge of things are not supposed to be involved with decisions that concern the fate of their loved ones. It’s why military officers are not supposed to date people they might have to send into harm’s way. But Elayne is so committed to the ideals of duty and service that she thinks of this normal weakness as an extraordinary singular personal failing.
Elayne worries a lot about what Morgase will say about her relationship with Rand, but Rand isn’t all that unsuitable, especially considering the political power he has gained by the time their relationship gets going. The channeling thing is a personal concern, not really something to consider regarding the Dragon Reborn as a political figure. See, for example, Berelain’s efforts. What I think is driving this concern by Elayne is her own feeling that she is indulging herself (a feeling mirrored ironically by Rand, which leads to their mutual misunderstanding of each other and Elayne’s infamous letters; but Elayne is the most like him of the three girlfriends), rather than working harder at her duties, with Morgase as the personification of duty in her mind and figurative judge of Elayne’s performance.
The fact that both Elayne and Galad have such strong codes of ethics, and adherence to absolutes, while being relatively well-adjusted personalities, speaks well of the woman who mainly raised them. And I don’t think that was Lini, for all that Elayne is constantly quoting her sayings. The pedestal on which she holds Morgase is not the remote view of a mainly absentee mother, but of someone who was actively involved in her life. That Galad sees her as his mother as well, when in her position she could be excused for just seeing to his needs and otherwise not bothering with some stranger’s kid, once his father died, also speaks well of her influence on, and care for him.
And as for Gawyn, well two out of three ain’t bad. Even the best parents are going to screw up sometimes.
Per Barret’s remarks, I never did like Lini much, and don’t find her nearly as impressive as the women whom she raised do. As we will see in her next job, circa PoD & WH, she is actually, massively, harmfully, incompetent as a servant. And considering she withheld a great deal of sexual education from a noblewoman who was heir to a major House until she was well into adulthood, she’s not super competent at her ostensible main job of raising young women. It explains a lot of Elayne’s sexual innocence and awkwardness about sexual matters. In a way, her inappropriate behavior with Thom could have roots in not having a firm grasp of such things, and crossing lines she has not been told about.
I had the same reaction toward the question of Morgase’s channeling when I first read the series. To me, Moiraine and Anaiya’s discussion in Fal Dara clearly indicated something Morgase would see as a personal failing, not a mere accident of birth preventing her advancing in the Tower.
@10 I have to disagree about Bryne and the breakup. When we meet him, he’s sulking over it and then reacts disproportionately to the sight and disappearance of an attractive woman. He was the closest thing Elayne had to a father, she clearly feels the lack in her life, hence her desperate insistence to Nynaeve that Tarangail would have started spending time with her when she was older, hence her trying to make Thom into a new father figure, hence her repeated wishes in the first couple of books for Morgase to marry Bryne and have kids. So as the only father figure in her life, he was not actually fulfilling that need, combined with his future behavior … Bryne’s an asshole.
@6 I don’t agree that Morgase was abused by Niall. In fact, he resisted all efforts by others to induce him to abuse her, he’s one of the few people to honestly and unreservedly admire her qualities without the complication of emotional attachments and, really, she was in the country he ruled, trying to subvert the monarchy to her own agenda. He’s the one who set her straight on Ailron’s creeping, too. Even when she started acting more friendly to him, he avoided sexually objectifying her, even dismissing the possibility she might try to seduce him.
I actually find Niall among the most sympathetic characters who are in an antagonistic position to the main characters. Sure, he’s wrong on some stuff, but so is Moiraine, with fewer excuses, and her wrongness does active harm to Rand. Niall is on the single-digit list of people actually trying to do something to benefit the world at large with regard to fighting the Shadow. Even lauded leaders like Tenobia, Ethenielle & Paitr were covering their own assess rather than send help for Tarwin’s Gap. Whereas Niall provided just as much help as Siuan did, and he didn’t bring Darkfriends into Fal Dara to kill a bunch of people and steal priceless artifacts.
@24:
But one of Graendal’s “pets” DID escape her Compulsion. At least according to the Companion. I realize there’s a section of the fanbase that calls shenanigans on that.
@14, yes of course I meant Gareth. That Gabriel looked wrong but I couldn’t think why!
William, we’re going to have to agree to disagree about Gareth. I like the way he recognizes Morgase’s right to her feelings and to control her own love life. And I like that it’s Siuan’s strength that attracts him. He sees at once that this is a young woman with courage and integrity, which is why he is shocked and intrigued by her breaking her oath. He has to know what would make such a woman do such a thing. He assumes it’s dire but how dire comes as a shock.
Killing off Morgase in the show would also have the side-effect of making Gawyn’s actions a bit more sympathetic, especially if he got real proof she was dead, instead of just believing the first rumor he heard. If she dies during Rand’s fight with Rahvin, Gawyn blaming him could even be somewhat legitimate.
@21 AnthonyPero: I guess we will see! Not sure why you think it is a good thing that they will be though eye of the world in 6 episodes.
“The odds of getting four seasons are pretty high. The odds of getting five are still pretty good. That’s 40 episodes, with the first book being done in 4-6 episodes, depending on whose speculation you believe.”
Cool – we can put a pin in this and circle back in 3 years or so, with my own prediction standing as stated.
@28 JadePhoenix – this is absolutely the right way for them to go.
@19: Agreed. I like sharing this blog series among my recommendations for new readers who want to watch other new readers (along with The Wheel Weaves podcast and Neuxue’s hilarious Tumblr liveblog), but I have to include a warning that looking at the blog post index is risky because some of the post titles feature spoilers for the chapter(s) they cover.
@26: I’ve never actually read the WoT Companion, except the entry on Trollocs that I managed to look up via Google Books. The WoT Wiki reminded me that Nynaeve briefly freed someone from Graendal’s Compulsion once, but I don’t remember anyone breaking out of it from within.
Val Cashmere @@@@@ 29:
Not sure where I made any sort of value judgement on the pace of the adaptation, either positive or negative. I certainly have feelings about it, but I won’t make any sort of judgement on either the adaptation as a whole, or its pace in particular, until I see it. I’m not sure how anyone would judge a creative endeavor without seeing it or hearing it first.
What I did say was the pace made it more likely that we would get through The Fires of Heaven, then I listed the non-creative business reasons why I believe that.
AeronaGreenjoy @@@@@ 31:
Noal Charin (aka Jain Farstrider) was confirmed in the Companion to have been the gnarled old man that we glimpse through a Gateway to Graendal’s palace. The Companion says that he was sent to Ebu Dar to find the ‘grael cache everyone else was looking for, and to spy on the Darkfriends that the other Forsaken had in the city.
Of course, Noal had the help of Mat’s ta’verenness to break Graendal’s compulsion.
Anthony Pero @32: Fair fair, I read your earlier comment with a slightly different emphasis and stand corrected.
I am would be happy to see Fires of Heaven plot on the small screen in a couple years and will certainly cheers you when it happens!
Do we ever get confirmation whether Breane and Dobraine are siblings or cousins?
@34
Breane is a Taborwin by marriage, and the widow of Dobraine’s brother. Per the WoT Companion.
I am just commenting here as I’m not sure people are checking comments on older posts. I am reading this series for the first time as well. Currently smack dab in the middle of The Great Hunt and I get great joy of writing down my thoughts and then coming to read your analysis of chapters and events. Don’t worry, I am not reading ahead or most comments as I find even when people are not typing spoilers their knowledge of future events color their comments.
Great series of posts thus far and I continue to look forward to your observation as I often think the same way, or from a different angle than yourself. Either way I am enjoying taking this ride along side yourself and others, even if I’m a tad behind.
I am just commenting here as I’m not sure people are checking comments on older posts. I am reading this series for the first time as well. Currently smack dab in the middle of The Great Hunt and I get great joy of writing down my thoughts and then coming to read your analysis of chapters and events. Don’t worry, I am not reading ahead or most comments as I find even when people are not typing spoilers their knowledge of future events color their comments.
Great series of posts thus far and I continue to look forward to your observation as I often think the same way, or from a different angle than yourself. Either way I am enjoying taking this ride along side yourself and others, even if I’m a tad behind.
The one thing that I never quite understood after reading this chapter was why Morgase went to the tower at all. When she would have been ‘of age’ she wasn’t the daughter-heir and only became queen because the daughter-heir went off into the wild and left a vacuum when Morgase predecessor died and thus the requirement for her to gather support for her claim to the throne.
Yikes! Good point, Bryan! Maybe some of the noble houses immitate the royal custom?
Bryan @@@@@ 38 – that was explained somewhere that Morgase went to the Tower in the hopes of training to be an Aes Sedai and then was awarded the ring when she became the …hand wave hand wave hand wave Daughter-Heir to Queen Modrellein through murky dynastic politics as Mordrellen’s closest female relative as she pressed House Trakand’s claim.
No, it never made much sense and wasn’t really fleshed out. I also think that the insertion of the Andoran dynastic politics with Ladies Elenia, Naean, Amyrilla et al was a bit a of ret-con by RJ and threw the original background setting a little bit out of whack.
Bryan@38 and LadyBelaine@40 Morgase can actually channel, but very, very, very weakly, so in theory she would have been going to to Tower to train that ability, although it doesn’t sound like it would have taken that long. The WoT wiki says she was a novice for less than two years, but I suspect the bulk of that may have been training in politics, history, etc, rather than channelling. I’m not entirely clear on whether she had the spark, though, or was taught how to channel, which may have played a role in the decision to send her to the Tower, beyond any tendency of the Andorran nobility to send their daughters there for an education