Good morning readers! Welcome to this week’s The Shadow Rising musings, which contain no recap section but instead are focused on investigating the idea of Rand as a savior king. The idea of a messianic figure who is meant to rule is common in western-based fantasy (as it is in western religion) and one that I find particularly interesting as I get further into The Wheel of Time and Rand’s path towards Tarmon Gai’don becomes both clearer and more complicated. Where I originally saw parallels to Buddhism and the Dalai Lama, now I begin to relate Rand to Christianity and Jesus, and I find it fascinating to see how Rand compares to other savior figures in fantasy.
Of course, most people’s minds jump to Buddhism as soon as they hear any mention of reincarnation. But the Dragon’s existence as someone who is tied forever to the turnings of the Wheel, Woven into the Pattern again and again, is very alike to the concept of bodhisattvas. These spiritually enlightened beings chose to remain attached to samsara, (the cycle of material suffering), rather than achieve full buddhahood, out of compassion and a desire to help other people. The Dalai Lama, believed to be the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, functions as the spiritual head of Tibet as well as a political figure, so you can see how the comparisons are apt, although Rand’s role as Dragon doesn’t seem to have any specifically spiritual components.
Well, other than having to literally fight his world’s version of the Devil, anyway. And one could argue that channeling and connection to the One Power are The Wheel of Time’s substitute for a more faith-based spirituality. It walks the same line that Star Wars walks with the Force, or Dune walks with its presentation of things like race memory and the Weirding Way: these things are presented as science rather than magic or religion, but the functional distinction between the three is blurry at best.
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Also, the process of finding the Dragon Reborn through Foretelling and prophecy reminds me of the way Tibetan monks have to search for a new Dalai Lama by interpreting signs and dreams.
The concept of being reborn is not limited to Buddhism, however, and in the Judeo-Christian mythos we find another example of a faith with prophecies about the return of the savior. For Christians, this is Jesus, and the influence of the faith can be seen in much western fantasy, from obvious ones like the Chronicles of Narnia, to less exacting references, such as those one sees in The Wheel of Time or in Dune. And somewhere in the middle we see examples like the legend of King Arthur.
Jordan references the King Arthur stories in numerous names within The Wheel of Time, as well as in the character of Artur Hawkwing. But the specific parallels between Lews Therin/Rand and King Arthur are worth noting, since it is Rand, not Hawkwing, who is the Dragon Reborn and savior of the world. Like King Arthur, Lews Therin Telamon was a great political head among his people as well as a military leader, one who helped his world achieve great strength and prosperity. Like Arthur, he was destroyed by what sounds like a combination of his own hubris and the treachery of those close to him (we know Lanfear was an old flame, and Lews Therin was probably close to some other high-ranking Aes Sedai who later ended up joining the Forsaken). And like Arthur, he was prophesied to return one day, at the time of his land’s greatest need.
Of course, King Arthur isn’t expected to Break the world when he returns, but he is expected to rule Britain again, and the Prophecies of the Dragon actually speak as much about how Rand will unite the world and save it as they do about the things he will destroy. (I suppose I can’t blame the people who are to live through this change for focusing more on the latter, though.) I think it is also worth addressing the fact that the poetic nature of Foretelling and prophecy can obfuscate meaning, and that the concept of Rand “breaking” or “destroying” the world may refer more to how much he will change it than to a violent and destructive end such as the Age of Legends experienced. Rand is the leader who will remake the world into a new Age. The Aiel believe that He Who Comes With The Dawn will be the chief of chiefs, uniting all the Aiel clans into one. The Sea Folk prophecies of the Coramoor say that even the Aes Sedai will serve him. The very image of the Dragon “breaking all bonds” may simply mean that allegiances will shift to bring everyone together under the dragon banner, as Rand is fated to lead the armies of Light in the coming Tarmon Gai’don. Which means that other armies, other nations, must surely follow him. Perhaps even the Children of the Light will find their way to him, once they can see that he is their only hope in defeating the Dark One.
Speaking of the Aiel, it’s hard to miss the Christian reference there; “chief of chiefs” rather than “king of kings.” One of the ways that Jesus is supposed to bring peace to Earth in his second coming is by actualizing the idea that all the world is his kingdom, and you can see how that is happening with the nations of Rand’s world, as well. I also caught the reference to the anointing of Jesus in the image of the Aes Sedai serving the Coramoor, washing his feet and drying them with their hair. But that does leave us with the question of what Rand will be after the Last Battle is over. He believes the prophecies predict his death, but if he were to survive, would he remain in charge of the world in the way he had to be during the actual Battle? Or will he relinquish his role as chief of chiefs and leave the world to make sense of its new structure on its own? How will the alliances sworn in his name play out once (if) the Dark One is defeated and a new Age has begun?
The comparison to Jesus as a savior who is meant to return makes sense, but there are also parallels to Moses and the people of Israel within the Aiel. Rand is a savior who was prophesied to come unite them and lead them out of a desert land. A uniter doesn’t have to be a king, as the story of Moses shows, but they often are, and Rand is not meant to unite just one peoples, but many. And Moses was a shepherd.
I find the concept of a savior who is also a king (or possibly a King, capital-K) particularly striking here, given how we began this journey with such a heavy The Lord of the Rings homage. Like Frodo, Rand comes from a small farming community that is quite isolated from the rest of the world, unaware of and uninvolved in things like national politics or war. Both are raised by unusual men who, in their youths, once went out into the wide world, defying the norms of their people. Both have been sheltered from the evil that seeks them by the isolation of their simple, somewhat idyllic country life, and both are eventually driven from their homes when that evil finally comes searching for them.
But Frodo’s importance as the ringbearer is focused on the fact that he is not of great lineage, fighting ability, or magical gift. (Granted he is a wealthy member of the gentry, but this lineage is important only within the Shire.) His journey as a savior is about how the purity of his simple life and un-ambitious desires help him to resist the pull of the One Ring, making him the only one capable of saving Middle Earth. Rand, on the other hand, comes from a distinguished lineage (a ruling house of Andor on the one side, and a long line of Aiel chieftains and leaders on the other) and is given the role of savior because he is literally the reincarnation of the world’s messiah. He may regret the loss of his good, simple life as much as Frodo did, but for him, that life was an illusion—a disguise to keep him safe as he grew up, requiring no adventure or cursed ring to send him on a different path. I suppose Rand really has more in common with Aragorn. Although that distinction belongs also to Lan, the fact that the Dragon is destined to lead and reshape the world into a new age is a marked similarity.
I also have a lot of questions about Rand’s bloodline, as I mentioned briefly in last week’s post. There doesn’t seem to be any reason that the Dragon Reborn needs to come from a particular lineage, but I wonder, then, why the narrative is so distinct around Rand’s mysterious past (rather than, say, just having him be Tam’s actual kid). My best guess is that, while the Dragon doesn’t need any fancy bloodlines, there are material advantages to the connections that the Pattern intended him to have. By possessing Aiel blood, Rand has a better chance of being accepted by the septs. By being connected to the former royal family of Andor, Rand may gain sway there as well. Having Galad as a half brother might even end up being significant to his success in gathering support and facing the Last Battle.
Lineage and prophecy play a big role in another savior narrative, that of Paul Atreides in Dune. The son of Duke Leto on the one side and the Bene Gesserit breeding program on the other, Paul’s origins are somewhat similar to Rand’s (the Aiel blood being concentrated into a small number of descendants due to the multitudes of death experienced during their wanderings after the Breaking) and like Rand, he is prophesied to become the leader of a desert-dwelling warrior people. In addition to that, it is Paul who begins the process of changing Arrakis into a green planet, thereby fundamentally changing who the Fremen were—you could almost say he destroys them. I have a theory that this is what Rand will do to the Aiel: He will “destroy” them by remaking their society so completely that they will seem like a different people, possibly by leading them back to the Way of the Leaf.
In the Chronicles of Narnia, the arrival of the Pevensie children in Narnia is another prophesied event regarding savior kings (and queens.) In this case, their special bloodlines as humans (or sons of Adam) elevated their status above that of the people of Narnia, which in some ways has them having a bit of both worlds—ordinary humans in their own world, where everyone is descended from Adam and Eve, but special rulers in Narnia due to that heritage. Humanity is supposed to have dominion over the earth and everything that “creepeth” upon it.
Even Harry Potter, the orphan boy who discovers he has a special magical power, is revealed to be of a special lineage. Not only is he the son of a prominent wizarding family on his father’s side, but that family is suspected to be descended from a specific mythical brother in the legend of the Deathly Hallows. Like Rand, his “ordinary” life is revealed to be a disguise, a cover to hide him from the Evil that he is prophesied to destroy. Of course, Harry is only able to become the savior of wizardkind because of the sacrifice his mother (an ordinary muggle-born woman) makes for him, but that is what makes the important lineage so odd, as it does for Rand. Thematically I have to wonder what the point is in saying that someone’s special status comes from outside of their bloodlines while at the same time setting them up as nobly born or heroically descended.
Even Jesus, the humble son of a carpenter, was descended from the house of David, and it seems that important bloodlines and nobility are quite caught up in the narrative of our saviors, both in religion and in fiction. But I remain unconvinced as to the point of Rand’s specific background, and curious as to how it will be contextualized going forward. Perhaps the point is to tie Rand more firmly to the world, giving him important connections in different lands and peoples that he wouldn’t have if he really was just a boy born and descended from the Two Rivers people.Then again, perhaps it is splitting hairs to make such a distinction, given the strength of the Old Blood in the Two Rivers, and the remarkable people that lineage produces. Perhaps the connection to the Age of Legends is even more impressive, thematically speaking, than which former almost-ruler one is descended from.
It also tickles me to no end that (justified though it may be) I compared Tam to Bilbo in this piece, as I am currently working on an essay about everyone’s favorite shepherd dad! Next week we return to our regularly structured read-and-response, covering Chapters 36 and 37 of The Shadow Rising, but keep your eyes out for the Tam essay coming later this week!
I wish you all an excellent day. You deserve it.
Sylas K Barrett lives in Brooklyn, and wrote most of this essay with a dog in his lap.
Looking forward to the Tam essay. He is a favorite.
In the spirit of Tam, the other notable SFF work that raises similarity issues with WoT is Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain, told from the perspective of an orphaned Assistant Pig Keeper who ends up, through hardwork and goodness, in a much higher station. Taran has a near-perfect Tam analogue in Coll – the helper and father figure to Taran who is revealed (to Taran’s shock) as a famed warrior but who has grown to prioritize the simple life over daring deeds.
I’m pretty sure Jordan gave Rand his mysterious lineage just to invert the fantasy trope of “your parents are not your real parents, your parents are the rightful kings of the realm”, since no one other than Rand is ever made aware of his ancestry and it doesn’t end up mattering one bit within the story.
Also, Aiel leadership isn’t hereditary, so while Rand’s dad was in fact a clan chief, that doesn’t mean his grandfather was. And once we get far enough back in the Wayback Machine, pretty much all of the Aiel are descended from the same 30 or so people.
Please don’t judge Rand by his lineage he gets a little sensitive about it…
I still mourn that RJ never got to write his Tam prequel. I think you will love Tam even more as the series goes on.
I can really only speak with any level of confidence on Jesus, but I think as it pertains to bloodlines and kingship and all that, Jesus is basically a subversion. Yes, all the prophecies spoke of the line of David and the Messiah and his kingship, etc – but in the end it definitely did not look the way people expected, and His (earthly) ministry basically ends with him washing his His disciple’s feet and laying down His life. (Not to mention that Rand is…a shepherd…)
Really love all the different connections you’ve drawn here; that was one of my favorite things about discovering WoT back in high school. I know there’s also a lot of connections to ‘The Fisher King’ when it comes to Rand but that’s not a legend I’m particularly knowledgeable on.
Sylas K Barrett lives in Brooklyn, and wrote most of this essay with a dog in his lap.
This is an excellent way for this essay to have been written. I have spent many an hour behind my computer working in the exact same manner.
And yay! A Tam article!
Mods, typo alert: “Rand is a savior who was prophesied to come unite them and lead them out of a dessert land.”
Much as Mat likely wishes he were in a dessert land…
Also @2 “…no one other than Rand is ever made aware of his ancestry and it doesn’t end up mattering one bit within the story.”
I disagree. Several people are aware of Rand’s lineage – though perhaps not both sides of it. Galad and Gawyn have it revealed to them that Rand is the son of Tigraine. The Aiel as a nation are made aware (by the Wise Ones and by Rand’s proclamation and being backed up by the clan chiefs) that Rand is of their blood.
Saying that it doesn’t matter one bit within the story isn’t really true either – if he had no Aiel blood, he’d never have gained the one nation that he could truly count on to follow him to war. His wetlands Royal bloodline seems to matter less, but there again there are all sorts of strings of the Pattern interwoven. His Andoran nobility is seized on when he travels through Cairhein the first time, causing eddies and ripples even up into the upper eschelons, eventually ending up in the assassination of Galldrian and the civil war that ensued. All sorts of stuff like that occurs that is indirectly due to his bloodline. If he looked just like Perrin or Mat, countless circumstances would not have happened.
And that doesn’t even get into things like Elaida making (wrong) choices based on him being of the royal line of Andor.
@6: Fixed! Thanks :)
@@@@@ 6 – I think Sylas was referring to the Andoran part of his heritage. He very specifically focuses on the bit about how being of Aiel descent gives him the minimum amount of social cachet within Aiel society to be accepted. //It also plays a major role in the fanatical loyalty shown him by the Maidens, as well//
Even though some people become aware of Rand’s position as Tigraine’s son, it’s a Chekhov’s Gun that never fires. It has no impact on the story except for a couple throwaway lines, and a hot minute of angst for Rand regarding his smooching with Elayne. When he is travelling through Cairhien in TGH, no one knows he’s noble – it’s an assumption people make that Rand leans into, so it’s hard to justify that those actions are the result of his ancestry. No one thought he was noble based on his physical looks (which aren’t Andoran at all, but more Aiel) – people thought he was a noble based on his bearing, his attitude, his clothing, and his “entourage”. Mat or Perrin would have inspired the same reaction.
And Elaida never learns that Rand is associated with the Royal Line of Andor. Did you even read the same series? Elaida is convinced that Elayne is the person to watch; the whole farce and tragedy of her story is her complete inability to interpret her Foretellings correctly – she’s the one of the very few characters with forewarning of what’s coming, and who incidentally has the power and influence to really help rally the cause of the Light, and her own character shortcomings mean that unlike Moiraine or Siuan, she completely perverts that chance and instead does a ton of damage instead.
So yes, Sylas is right that Rand’s lineage (not heritage) is of no importance to the story and is a complete subversion of a fantasy trope. Andor is one of the few nations that Rand has no claim on, that never swears fealty to him personally, the only one he actively forswears any interest in ruling, and it’s the one in which he’s a full-blooded royal anyway.
Very nice piece.
A quibble: I try to avoid the use of “judeo-christian” as what follows that phrase is almost invariably something that is more christian than jewish (and I don’t mean to start any discussion/arguments about this, just making the observation).
I do note your statement that “Rand is a savior who was prophesied to come unite them and lead them out of a dessert land.” I will reference the classic satire DOON where our stalwart heroes live on a planet made of sugar where all foods are dessert and long for the prophesied leader who will bring them to a place where there are entrees. “Steak for dinner, sometime soon!”
The only part of Rand’s ancestry that mattered was the Aiel part since it brought Aiel armies to him and gained him loyalty of all Maidens. The Andor royalty part didn’t matter at all. By the time Galad found out he was consumed with desire to fight Demadred anyway and he just used it as a way to get Demadred to bother with fighting him, that’s all. I believe that the main impact of Rand’s parentage happened in the first book or so, the truth serving to alienate him from his village and friends, making him feel more alone than he had to. Otherwise, the Andor part was a red herring for fans, as well as a law of unintended consequences from Tigraine running off, to Aiel War, to murdering spree by Black Ajah, to Dragon Reborn.
@8 I believe you and @6 are on the same page, Elaida never learns that her Foretelling was referring to Rand, but if he had no connection to the royal family then it wouldn’t have triggered that Foretelling and she wouldn’t be invested in Andor at all.
Yeah, not sure what RJ intended with the royal heritage thing. Maybe he was planning on it becoming relevant at the end. Maybe he changed his mind as the series evolved. Or maybe he always intended it to be a red herring. But the fact is that Rand could have been full-blooded Aiel and it not change a thing. Actually, it would make the whole Maiden storyline even more poignant if his mother was a real Maiden.
Honestly, I think Rand’s bloodlines and connections in this series is simply a way to both make the story more complicated, something that Jordan delighted in doing, AND to flex his pattern weaving skills. Like “oh look Rand’s ancestry is tied to this family or that family which is related to this thing which prophesied to do this thing which ties into this other character, oh no i’ve gone cross-eyed”. In terms of saving the world, sure maybe his affiliations make it easier here or there but he’s so strongly taveryn that it really doesn’t matter, the pattern weaves as the pattern wills and Rand will do what he does regardless. Big case in point, the Sea Folk. Nothing about them is affected by Rand’s lineage, but they fall in line anyhow simply because Rand is who he is and the pattern demands it
The Buddha is mentioned in the book:
Is zen Rand a buddha maitreya, or is that a different Hero of the Horn?
Theme-wise, I think it matters that the mother of the most important person in Aiel history was an outsider who could be fully accepted by them. A lot of the groups in the WoT are too closed off and look down on outsiders. One of the most important things Egwene does (besides that whole helping-to-save-the-world thing) is that she opens the door to channelers who aren’t part of the Aes Sedai’s traditional power structure, learning from them and offering them respect.
I also think it’s important that she had her own story beyond the mother who died in childbirth, child raised in ignorance of his true history trope. Like Rand, she had a prophecy about saving the world. She chose to make the sacrifice despite the cost and followed a course she knew going in could lead to her death. She wasn’t a passive victim or someone blindly committed to the stoic warrior code. Her choices were made with a fair understanding of the consequences.
I agree that the royal bloodline doesn’t seem necessary. The one advantage it gives us is that we’ve heard of Rand’s mother by name before learning the whole story. If his mother had been an Aiel-born maiden, we wouldn’t have been getting bits and pieces of her story before this. It would have been more of an info-dump. Instead, she feels more like a separate person with a story apart from Rand.
So, it serves a purpose, and not the conventional one. Still not sure how I feel about Rand being royal all along, though.
I don’t think the “king of kings” bit is especially Christian. Judaism (and possibly other religions with which I’m less familiar) uses the same description, as do multiple historical empires. It’s just a reasonable way to organize things when communication depends on messengers on horseback, so that local kings/governors/viceroys/whatever still need to handle most day-to-day affairs.
@16 In Judaism “King of Kings” is a title reserved for God and not delegated to any other figures; I am not sure that it is the same as what is being referred to here which is more of a messianic (and not moschiach-anic) thing.
@11 Exactly, thank you. That’s what I was trying to get across. Elaida’s Foretelling is just one example of a ton of things that would not have happened if not for Rand needing to be Tigraine’s son. Luc/Isam merging is another example.
The interesting part of LTT’s betrayal is spelled out in “The Strike at Sheol-Gul” in that he is betrayed by his female counterpart co-head of the Aes Sedai not to the dark one, but rather in a ‘my plan is better’ even after her plan became untenable with the loss of one of the sa-angreal sites. It then became very much like the Aes Sedai betrayal of Manetheren; done out of personal envy.
@18 – Luc/Isam had nothing to do with Rand. And what did Elaida’s misinterpretation of the Foretelling have to do with Rand’s parentage? The Pattern could have still given her that Foretelling and nothing would have changed. Elayne did, in some indirect fashion, have a material impact on the winning the Last Battle.
@20 Elayne did have a material impact, but I can’t think of a single thing Elaida did to/with Elayne as a result of her prophecy-driven fixation that actually came to fruition or had any kind of effect whatsoever.
Well, actually, wait, no… it did directly result in the widespread dissemination of knowledge of forkroot. So she’s got that going for her.
But anyway, as far as the Pattern is concerned, there’s a whole hell of a lot that probably wouldn’t have happened as it did if Elaida hadn’t had that red herring to chase. And the foretelling itself just doesn’t have the capital-T Truth expected of prophecy if it was really just intended to be straightforwardly about Elayne or her family… as admitted by your own qualifier about “some indirect fashion” of material impact.
And from a storytelling perspective, aside from allowing us the pleasure in these reveals to Rand about the wild degree of interconnection in the events that led to his birth aligning with prophecy, the Foretelling is near the top of the list of highlights in worldbuilding around the truth (rather than/relative to self-perception) of contemporary Aes Sedai… both in how Elaida is a pompous nutbag who’s thoroughly incapable of adjusting prior conclusions to new data, and how far the Aes Sedai as a whole have been driven down the path to near-irrelevance, hamstrung by their factionalizing and politicking. Of course, The Wheel Weaves and etc, everything had to happen the way it did, all that jazz… but to get to the point, Elaida was still just an Accepted when she had this Foretelling that was explicitly relevant to winning the Last Battle, and already was steeped deeply enough in the insane machinations of their internal politics that her first instinct was to just hang on to it for personal gain… and that sort of thing genuinely seems to be par for the course. Not that it’s ultimately a bad idea considering the extent of Black Ajah infiltration, as Siuan and Moiraine pointedly learn not long after, but Elaida’s motivations had literally nothing to do with that.
@15 Tigraine’s story could be a novel by itself. In a better timeline maybe we could have seen it.
Rand was chief of chiefs because, as well as king of kings, he was Khan of Khans as his actual title car’a’carn openly indicates: Ghengis Khan, leader of the Golden Horde of Aiel west into the main continent.
Another messianic figure Rand has a fair bit in common with is Saoshans of Zoroastrianism. There is a lot of Zoroastrianism in Wheel of Time theology.
@15 your comment brings some parallels to mind which I had never thought of before. While all the messianic imaging is clear to see, I had never extended the comparison to the mother of Christ.
Mary recieved a message from an Angel which came with a changed life that she chose to accept, much like how Rands mom was told she needed to abandon her life and she accepted that fate.
Then there is also the virginal characteristic of Mary, and Rands mom committing to join the Maidens.
I don’t recall now if she *knew* her son would be the Dragon reborn though..
I don’t think Tigraine knew she was fated to be the mother of the Dragon Reborn. All Gitara told her was she had to join the Aiel and become a Maiden and somehow that would save Andor and the world. On the other hand when she found herself in labor on the slopes of Dragonmount she may have guessed how she was going to save the world, or rather her son would.
I love the way Jordan plays with real-world mythology to build his own. Aside from Rand’s “virgin birth” as the son of a Maiden, my favorite the fact that Callandor is the Sword in the Stone. Once and future king indeed. It’s another turning of the Wheel.
@8, & @2 – I very much agree, and made similar observations in last week’s thread. Rand’s linage matters in that it connects him to other part/events in the story, and that the Aiel connection gives him a foot in the door and really brings the connection to the Maidens home in a particular way.
@19 – The interesting thing about Latra Posae Decume and her conflict with LTT is that no one was right. She may have been stubborn and prideful (as was LTT), but neither plan was tenable. If she would have acquiesced to LTT’s plan, both Saidin & Saidar would have ended up tainted, as we see by the events at the end of the series and by RJ’s own words on the matter. Not that she has any particular moral justification over her row with LTT, as neither of them had a correct idea about how to go about sealing the Bore and LTT’s plan was the only one they had left. It was a hard position for both leaders, as I don’t see how they were supposed to come up with the particular Rube Goldberg Machine necessary to do the job right.
Some of Sylas’s earlier thoughts on this subject, from his first Reading the Wheel of Time post:
(I’m unhappy to be reminded that Sylas told me: “I am sure I will be exploring and talking plenty about the Trollocs and Fades in post to come!” Yeah, we both thought they would remain a significant presence when we were at that point our first reads. No such luck. Just endless disappointment and frustration. #brownajah)
In my experience, Luke Skywalker always seemed the closest pop-culture character to Rand in this regard. The farmers who raised him didn’t claim to be his parents, but they claimed to be his family (and were, but by marriage), while in fact his father was the common-born but now-lordly terror of the galaxy and the mother who died birthing him was the queen of a distant planet. Though I don’t actually know what he was told while growing up, as I remember almost nothing about A New Hope.
There is another connection to King Arthur, as he was hidden and raised as a commoner without knowledge of his parentage. There really is something about farm boys becoming heroes in our fictional stories.
As for Rand in particular, I believe without his Aiel heritage he wouldn’t have been able to unite them behind him. At the very least the wayback machine wouldn’t have worked for him, so I’m not sure what he could have done to get them on his side.
@20:
Luc only went into the Blight because Gitara Moroso sent him there, presumably because of a series of Foretellings regarding that entire family, which includes Rand and Rand’s mother. Its not reasonable to assume that Gitara’s actions here aren’t connected to him being Rand’s future uncle. That entire scenario exists to put Tigraine in the Waste at the proper time. Her depression after the loss of her brother is a huge part of why she is willing to do what Gitara tells her to do.
There is no Luc/Isam merging without Tigraine being Rand’s mother because it strains credulity that Gitara’s actions regarding Luc aren’t connected to her actions regarding Tigraine.
That’s the wrong question. The right question is: What did Rand’s parentage have to do with Elaida’s Foretelling? And the answer to that is everything. It takes some mighty twisting of the obvious to convince oneself that her Foretelling wasn’t about Rand. It can be done, certainly. But I can’t do it. Therefore Rand’s parentage (or more accurately, Elaida’s misinterpretation of said prophecy regarding Rand and the Royal line of Andor at the time of the Foretelling) ultimately led to the split in the Tower. Could it still have happened anyway? Of course it could have. Authorial fiat is a powerful tool. But it didn’t happen another way — it happened this way.
—-
But overall, there’s nothing about his Andoran heritage that couldn’t have been handled in a different way. I don’t know that it would have been more interesting, however. I find the connections interesting in and of themselves, and even more interesting that they never amount to what you assume the will.
Back in 1996-97 I had a half-cocked theory that it was going to be Galad’s blood spilled on the Rocks of Shayol Ghul as some sort os substitutional sacrifice, since he and Rand shared blood. I was desperately reaching for some way to make his lineage matter.
@29:
Well, in Western culture, the archetype of David is very, very strong. There is a branch of christian study called Typology which views David as type of Christ—an early precursor. Other figures include Moses. Although instead of being a Shepherd who became a King, Moses was a Prince who became a Shepherd, and later a Shepherd of men.
Also, although I’m not sure any of the symbolism was intentional, there is a reading of the Aiel as Jews — Twelve tribes of desert dwellers waiting on a Messiah with a mysterious thirteenth priestly tribe.
Although, contrary to what Sylas said above, they weren’t waiting for this Messiah figure to take them out of a desert land. That desert land was their promise land. If, however, you take the illustration back to Moses, it works.
@16, @17:
I was taught (not that I’ll hold to it that tightly if contradicted) that use of the term King of Kings made it’s way into Christianity through Judaism, and that the term came into use among Jewish people during their captivity. The title of the emperor of the Achaemenid Empire was Shahanshah, which means King of Kings, and one of these Emperors conquered Babylon and eventually set the Jewish people free.
Robert Jordan’s deconstructive plotting and nestled reimagining still are a source of delight for me. For a long time they were also a source of frustration, while the series meandered along and it seemed they wouldn’t lead anywhere.
Now that it’s over, one construct I particularly enjoyed was the complete irrelevance of Rand’s lineage (in comparison to his acquired heritage) to the progression of the story. A brilliant success from Jordan in remaking a story trope cake & eating it too.
And the sheer number of strings that flavour that story without being of any material effect in the outcome, just adds to the pleasure for me. I still get the same ‘pleasure’ of my hero being unmasked as the equal of his antagonists, but now have the added thrill of it being of absolutely no consequence in the story itself.
I still get to revel in the added colour of the substance of his lineage being revealed, while also understanding that the specifics of that lineage have been rendered largely irrelevant by the plot engine.
And the peripheral tempest of events that flow from the centre of this particular reconstruction from Jordan, is nothing short of exhilarating. Ranging from the ineffability of Luc’s circumstances, to the selflessness of Tigraine’s acquiescence to fate. To Elaida’s entry point to the drama, which is enhanced by the dichotomy of her spectacular character flaws initially being no barrier to her rise, then intrinsic to her precipitous fall.
I love how Jordan is giving us what we’re used to with one hand, while hammering ‘It doesn’t matter’ over our heads with the other.
I see Rand’s thoughts as surrogates for any reader’s, when he considers all the new information the Wise Ones give him about his lineage, acknowledges it… then lets it go.
This being Jordan, we can’t actually escape the weaving plot strings, but the way he does it – Rand’s discussion with Elenia in LoC for example – just adds to the satisfaction without stopping the hammering. Masterful.
@32 It may be true that christianity got the phrase “King of Kings” from judaism; the difference is that in judaism this refers strictly to God; it has a whole different meaning in christianity where it is a title of the messiah (as I understand it).
@34:
Yes, a Messiah whom Christians believe is both God and the Son of God simultaneously. So, from they’re perspective, they are still using the term to refer to God.
And since the Persians viewed their emperor as a divine God-King, they were also using the term to reference God from their point of view.
How are you going to write an entire article about reincarnated saviors and not mention Hinduism ONCE? I’m honestly flabbergasted that people don’t understand where the original concept of reincarnation and time as a cyclical Wheel come from. It’s not Buddhism, it’s not Jainism, and it’s certainly not any of the Abrahamic religions. Only Hinduism has this cyclical, cosmic scale of time built into it.