I can’t believe we’ve actually made it to the end of Lord of Chaos! I must say, after getting through these last two chapters, I feel like I’m almost as tired as Rand and Perrin and the rest of them. Figuratively speaking, anyway. Onward to the recap!
Perrin, Loial, and Gaul make their way across the river. Perrin is relieved that Faile hadn’t insisted on coming. Berelain had at first, until Rhuarc pointed out the danger of letting rumor spread, of people seeing that she has left the city Rand charged to her care, and she relented. Eventually they meet up with Dobraine and Havien Nurelle, Captain of the Mayene Winged Guards. Rhuarc reports that he has about five thousand men and a thousand Maidens, to add to the two hundred Mayeners and five hundred armsmen. He didn’t dare take more lest the other Aiel find out that Rand has been taken captive. There are also ninety four Wise Ones, led by Amys and Sorilea. Perrin isn’t sure if even the combined power of the Wise Ones is enough to match the Aes Sedai they are chasing, but he certainly won’t turn aside any help.
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That night Perrin sends his mind out to the wolves. After a long period of introduction he asks about the party of wagons and men and Aes Sedai ahead of him—he’d been startled when he first learned that wolves could always tell when a woman could channel. One of the wolves asks why he is searching for these two-legs. Perrin hesitates, worried about putting the wolves in danger and unsure whether or not they consider Rand important. Then he answers that they have caged Shadowkiller.
The shock filling his mind was answer enough, but howls filled the night, near and far, howls filled with anger and fear. In the camp horses whinnied fearfully, stamping their hooves as they shied against the picket ropes. Men ran to calm them, and others to peer into the darkness as if expecting a huge pack to come after the mounts.
We come, the wolves tell him. Perrin goes to sleep and dreams of being a wolf, and in the morning he can feel hundreds of them, and more drawing closer. Communicating with the wolves each night tells Perrin that they are gaining on the Aes Sedai, but he remains unsure of what to do once they catch up. As they travel on, Perrin worries over tensions between the Aiel and the Cairhienin, and between the siswai’aman and the Maidens. There is also conflict between Sulin and Nandera, apparently over the leadership of the Maidens, but even after Sulin beats Nandera in a barehanded fight, Perrin is surprised to see that Nandera is still in charge. Amys and Sorilea have similar tension over leadership of the Wise Ones, but they seem to solve theirs over long talks and to come out closer to equals. And finally, he has to navigate a burgeoning hero worship from Nurelle, who is Perrin’s age but has never seen battle.
One day Perrin receives a sending from the wolves showing a familiar banner. Perrin is surprised to find his Two Rivers men there, and even more surprised to find Aes Sedai with them, including Alanna and Verin. Dannil reports that they had set out just as Perrin ordered, traveling towards Cairhien, when the Aes Sedai overtook them. They informed Dannil that Alanna could find Rand, and since Dannil was sure Perrin would be wherever Rand was, they followed the Aes Sedai’s direction.
The two lead Aes Sedai introduce themselves as Bera Harkin and Kiruna Nachiman, and Perrin explains that Rand has been taken prisoner by Elaida’s Aes Sedai, sparking much alarm amongst the women.
“Six?”[Bera] said incredulously. “Six could not take him. I am sure of it.”
“I told you he was injured,” Alanna half-wept. Perrin knew her scent well enough to pick it out; she smelled of pain. “I told you.” Verin kept silent, but she smelled furious—and afraid.
Kiruna tells Perrin that he may join his troops to them, but Perrin holds fast, inviting the Aes Sedai to join him. Perrin can’t get any information out of the Aes Sedai about how Alanna can track Rand, and he can tell that there is some strife among their ranks as to who is the leader. He wishes he had some hint of whether or not he’ll have to rescue Rand from these Aes Sedai after they rescue him from Coiren.
On the tenth day, the day they will overtake the Aes Sedai, a sending comes from the wolves.
Come now. Many two-legs. Many, many, many! Come now!
Gawyn struggles to keep his mind on his work. He is preoccupied with thoughts of Egwene and of Rand—Gawyn hates the man, but he is sickened by what the Aes Sedai are doing to him. He hopes Egwene will understand that Gawyn hadn’t even known at first that Rand was their prisoner. He has promised not to hurt Rand, but he’s not going to help him, either.
One of his scouts rides up, reporting thousands of Aiel surrounding them, then dies. Galina insists that it is only their Shaido escort, but when Gawyn grows angry and tells her about the dead scout, she seems to relent, agreeing that caution may be warranted.
Inside the chest, Rand struggles for breath, cramped and hurting from his many beatings. He can feel that Alanna is close, but reminds himself that six Aes Sedai will not be able to free him, and that he no longer trusts any Aes Sedai anyway. He feels the chest being taken out of the wagon and is surprised that it must be night already, but when he isn’t let out he begins to beg and and weep, then grows angry.
Perrin and his companions watch the battle between the Shaido and the Aes Sedai’s forces. Channeling seems to be coming both from the wagons and the Aiel, but the numbers are certainly on the Shaido’s side. Rhuarc and Dobraine are clearly resigned to the fact that they will not survive this fight, and Kiruna adds that nine Aes Sedai are not enough to match what is going on down there, even if the Wise Ones help. Perrin tells her to leave if she wants, but that he is not going to let Elaida have Rand. Kiruna is pleased with his response.
Perrin divides the company, setting some of his men to go on foot with the Wise Ones, and decides to go on foot himself—he doesn’t want to ride either his new horse, Stayer, or Stepper into battle.
Men could choose whether they threw themselves into the midst of steel and death; he chose for his horses, and today he chose no.
The Shaido are focused on their fight and don’t notice Perrin’s advance. When they are a few hundred paces away Dobraine yells out the charge, and Perrin calls for the wolves, which burst out of the grass and the nearby forests. As Perrin fights, he imagines he is hewing trees and brambles, trying not to see the devastation all around him as fighters on both sides are struck down by weapons and the One Power. He focuses only on reaching Rand. He does see that the Aes Sedai and the Mayener guards, who were supposed to hang back, have come right into the battle with them.
Even more shocking is a sudden boom and opening of a gateway, and Perrin sees men with swords and black coats leap out of it. They fight with the swords but also seemingly with the One Power. The Shaido close in around Perrin, Loial, and Aram. He doesn’t think they are going to last much longer.
In the chest, Rand discovers that one of the soft points has gone hard, and then another, and then two more. The last two remain soft, but although he fears being caught, he also can’t count on ever getting another chance as good as this one. Slowly he feels around one of the knots, but in between, where there seems to be nothing, he finds small spaces he begins to wiggle carefully through. Lews Therin whimpers that the others will feel it and come back, but Rand manages to slip all the way through the spaces and reach just a smidge of the Source. Saidin is still on the other side of the shield, but he and Lews Therin both feel a sudden surge of hope.
Rand could not have explained what he did next, though Lews Therin had explained how; explained between drifting off into his own mad fancies, between towering rages and wailing over his lost Ilyena, between gibbering that he deserved to die and shouting that he would not let them sever him. It was as if he flexed what he had extended through the knot, flexed it as hard as he could. The knot resisted. It trembled. And then it burst. There were only five. The barrier thinned.
Rand knows the Aes Sedai must have felt what he did, but might not understand what they are feeling. He continues to work, getting better at the process with each knot he tackles, though one goes soft again. Still, with only three points left in the shield he is able to break it and seize saidin, crushing those three points in fists of spirit. He channels into the chest as well, causing it to burst apart.
Rand finds two Aes Sedai unconscious on the ground, and one clutching her head and screaming at being stilled. He also finds Min, who begins to cry at the sight of him. He frees her from her bonds and tells her that it seems some friends have come for him.
Rand can see Aiel fighting Warders and the Younglings, and he can feel saidin being channeled. By the wagons, Coiren and the other Aes Sedai captors are channeling into the fight on horseback, and he begins picking them off one by one. Lews Therin looks for Galina, but she is nowhere in sight. The Aiel burst through, but Rand can see that they are fighting each other as well as the Warders and Younglings. Suddenly Gawyn is in front of him, on horseback. Rand hopes he won’t have to hurt Elayne’s brother, but Gawyn hesitates, then offers to take Min to safety. When she declares that she will stay with Rand, Gawyn tells Rand that he will see him die one day, then rallies the Younglings into a retreat.
A man in a black coat channels at Gawyn and Rand clubs him down with Air. Taim is at his side a moment later. He attempts to Heal Rand but Rand pulls back—as always, Lews Therin is ranting about the Forsaken and killing Taim, but even without Lews Therin, Rand thinks that if Taim ever touched him with the Power he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from killing the man.
The Asha’man have secured the campsite by channeling a great dome, and Rand can see many of his allies inside the dome, while the Shaido outside press at what they can’t see. There are also captive Shaido inside the dome, and Asha’man shielding a group of Aes Sedai. Perrin joins him, expressing his relief at seeing Rand alive. He tells Rand that Rhuarc and most of his Aiel are outside the dome, as well as Mayeners and Cairhienin, and he doesn’t know what happened to the Two Rivers folk. He gives a sigh of relief as Rand orders the dome to be let go, and Loial too, and Rand is horrified to realize what they must think of him.
Taim argues against it, but Perrin insists that Dannil and the Wise Ones won’t leave if they don’t know that Rand is safe. If Rand won’t help them, he can at least let Perrin out so that he can try to tell them to retreat before they get killed. Rand tells Taim that Sevanna wants his head, and that he means to teach her a lesson.
“I told you to make weapons, Taim. Show me just how deadly they are. Disperse the Shaido. Break them.”
“As you command.” If Taim had been stiff before, he was stone now.
Using flows of Air they lift Rand’s standard out of a hole in the top of the dome as Taim lines the Asha’man up. They raise the barricade, and Taim issues a single order. “Asha’man, kill!”
The bodies of the advancing Shaido explode, row by row, their destruction so horrible that Perrin throws up and Nandera and Sulin looking away. When eventually the Shaido turn and begin to flee, the Asha’man send a wave of Earth and Fire after them, tossing bodies into the air and setting them ablaze. The ranks of the Shaido fall utterly apart, until Rand uses the Power to shout at Taim to stop. There are wounded everywhere as the remaining Shaido flee, leaving behind clusters of Rand’s allies. They begin to make their way slowly towards Rand, all clearly stunned. When Rand finds Alanna and the others with his allies, he tells them that they belong with the captive Aes Sedai. Kiruna tells him that he is forgetting who they are.
“I forget nothing, Aes Sedai,” Rand said coldly. “I said six could come, but I count nine. I said you would be on an equal footing with the Tower emissaries, and for bringing nine, you will be. They are on their knees, Aes Sedai. Kneel!”
Taim adds that if they do not kneel, they will be knelt.
Later, rumor spreads of the battle. There are many tales, but oddly enough, the one most often believed is closest to the truth. That the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai had been raised over the battlefield.
On a day of fire and blood and the One Power, as prophecy had suggested, the unstained tower, broken, bent knee to the forgotten sign.
The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn, and the world was changed forever.
One of my struggles as a high fantasy reader has always been that I have a terrible head for numbers. Jordan is very exact about his distances and dates and while I appreciate the technical skill there, it’s often kind of white noise to me. As a reader this doesn’t matter—no one is going to appreciate every storycrafting detail to the same degree, and you all know how much I love character work above everything else.
Still, the numbers in this battle were so important to the dynamic of the chapters, so significant to the results of the conflict, that I admit I risked a peek at the Wheel of Time Wiki. I only looked at its helpful breakdown of the Forces involved, though I was lightly spoilered for the fact that there are six Black Ajah among Galina’s Aes Sedai. (Fortunately I didn’t see any names.)
The wiki claims that there were about 40,000 Aiel vs Perrin’s ~7,000 humans and 1,000 wolves. The Younglings were numbered at 582 (although there was no citation for this figure). Even my inability to visualize what a group of more than a hundred people looks like can see how significantly outnumbered Rand rescuers were—Rhuarc and Dobraine’s resignation really sinks in now that I can see exactly what they were facing. It shows the courage possessed by everyone who followed Perrin, and it also shows that everyone who rode with him truly understands just how important Rand is, and what they believe the Tower Aes Sedai might be capable of doing to him.
Seeing the numbers of the Shaido is also a good reminder for me, Mr. Not Numbers Man, of how many Aiel there actually are. 40,000 isn’t even the entirety of the Shaido forces, and they are only one clan, although I believe they are one of the larger ones. It’s significant to be reminded that the Aiel are formidable not only because of their individual warrior prowess, but because there are so many of them. An entire nation which has followed Rand into the Westlands.
The wiki also explained that there were 39 Tower Aes Sedai holding Rand captive, and that the Shaido had about 300 Wise Ones among them. I don’t think I ever internalized how many Wise Ones there really are—for some reason I’ve always pictured there only being a few Wise Ones per clan, or perhaps one per sept. Not sure how I came up with that, and I do think that there has been some mention of larger numbers when the narrative talked about the tents of the Wise ones. There were 94 Wise Ones with Perrin, after all, though this was apparently the entirety of the contingent at Cairhien.
We’ve never seen the One Power used on this scale before, with about 400 Wise Ones and almost 50 Aes Sedai. Several characters remark upon it, and particularly Kiruna, who says she has never seen so many weaves at once, and who is the first to estimate Galina’s Aes Sedai as at least thirty. However, the narration doesn’t really acknowledge this as significant except for the way it reinforces how outnumbered Perrin and his allies are. It is only when the Asha’man show up that there is a tonal shift, culminating with the horrific display at the end, where they basically blew up all the Shaido.
Rand told his recruits that an “asha’man was a man who defended truth and justice and right for everyone” and “a guardian who would not yield even when hope was gone.” But he also told Taim to make the men into weapons. The two aspects are not necessarily incompatible, but I do think that it shows how different the foundations of the Black Tower are to the White. The modern Aes Sedai were founded by the remnants of the Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends, and their foundations were in trying to support a world that was trying to pull itself back into some kind of order. They do have the Green Ajah, and the White Tower has stood with the Borderlands against Shadowspawn and fought in the Trolloc wars, but while many sisters can be warriors, they are not really an army. Their purpose was always to work with the world; their focus has always been as much on politics, on human justice, on scholarship, and on governing the world. Not to mention that they have an entire Ajah dedicated to finding and gentling men who can channel—this protects the world and fights the Shadow in a way, but again, it’s not soldiery.
The Asha’man, on the other hand, were founded by Rand specifically in preparation for the Last Battle. He may also intend them to act as protectors and enforcers for the world at large, and may even employ them in later battles as he continues to try to solidify his hold on the Westlands before Tarmon Gai’don. At the end of the day, this is what the Asha’man are, and you can see how much more militaristically they function. Taim has trained them to form ranks, has trained them to channel a specific weave on the simple command of “kill” and to coordinate their individual weaves into large aspects like the protective dome or the rolling wave of earth and fire. What they do to the Shaido is horrific, but it would seem less so if they were employing the same attacks against waves of Trollocs and Myrddraal, as the entire fate of the world teetered on the edge of destruction and the Dark One threatened to break free.
The end of Chapter 55 was really powerfully executed, but I found it difficult to read. Once again we come up against the problems created by the world building of the One Power, and this idea that saidin and saidar, that men and women, are equal but very separate. I don’t mind that all the villains of this battle are women—actually, that’s kind of cool since it so rarely happens. But it is impossible to escape the image of women who have long helped power being brought down this way, surrounded by men ready to force them to their knees, literally and figuratively. It is impossible to escape the feeling that the narrative of The Wheel of Time is putting female channelers back in their place.
This doesn’t mean that Jordan doesn’t write good, complex, and exciting female heroes. He very much does. But in more and more subtle but irrefutable ways, the narrative is leading us toward this idea that a woman’s proper place is at the right hand of a man. The way linking works, where only women can initiate the bond but that, once created, it belongs to a man. The fact that men are on average proportionately stronger in the One Power than women. Even the conflict between Perrin and Faile strikes at this theme, where she is apparently punishing him for being affected by Berelain’s flirting, and where Saldean culture demands that a man be stronger than his wife so that she doesn’t have to diminish herself to stay below him.
Of course, some of this dynamic is also built into the kind of epic hero that Jordan has crafted in the Dragon Reborn. The Chosen One narrative of western fiction always relies on this sort of semi-Christian King of Kings idea, in which one person is elevated by fate and responsibility above all others. Rand is meant to be in charge of everything, and no matter how important those other characters are, he’s still the tip of the pyramid. Which is fine, that’s the kind of story this is. But when it is also gendered, the balance becomes narratively uncomfortable. It’s Rand against the Aes Sedai—the new rightful “king” against those women who have been in power (for ill and for good) since the last “king” broke the world. And not only that, the narrative also pits the ta’veren power of Perrin and Mat against the channeling ability of Nynaeve and Egwene. This might not be intentional on Jordan’s part, but it is definitely there. Egwene and Nynaeve might be important, might be a cut above the other Aes Sedai, might even forge a new kind of Aes Sedai. But they are still just important channelers. Perrin and Mat are chosen, set apart by the pattern the way Rand is, if to a lesser extent.
All that being said, however, I do really love what the ta’veren triangle does to Perrin and Mat’s relationship to Rand. And I was thinking that Min’s viewing that something bad would happen to Rand if Perrin wasn’t there might have been about Rand being kidnapped by Galina and the others, as her viewing that “women who can channel are going to hurt you” seems to be. But it might also be about Perrin arriving in time to rescue Rand before he was possibly killed in this battle, or perhaps taken captive by the Shaido. Sevanna’s Wise Ones seemed to believe they could reproduce the shield on Rand and hold him captive the same way the Aes Sedai were. Their lack of expertise might have made it easier for Rand to break free, but he’d also have been in the midst of all those Shaido and Wise Ones. I imagine Sevanna is way more inventive with her tortures than Galina, and just as bent on breaking Rand. Whatever the outcome of the fight between the Tower Aes Sedai and the Shaido, Rand would have been the worse for it, I think.
Speaking of that, I was pleased with Gawyn for being suspicious of Galina’s attempts to get him and the Younglings murdered by the Shaido. He might not have suspected exactly what was going on, but he clearly had an idea, and I think those suspicions helped prompt him to lead the Younglings in retreat without seeming to worry about or check in with the Aes Sedai they have been serving. That, and the Aes Sedai’s treatment of Rand and Min. Again, I have a lot of respect for Gawyn who, despite his blindspots and his belief that Rand murdered his mother, cannot approve of Galina’s brutality toward Rand. His promise to Egwene has held him firm even when it would have been pretty easy to break it and then try to cover it up. Of course, then he would have been killed by Rand defending himself, which would really have been horrible for Rand and Elayne. And Egwene too, though Rand doesn’t know that.
And then there’s Perrin. I really do love the way Jordan crafts Perrin’s POV. The deliberateness with which Perrin thinks, the careful and methodical way he turns over problems, really comes through in Chapter 54, and it lends a little something extra to a chapter that is otherwise a bit dull—I’m always happy to hear Loial talk to anyone about anything, but I wasn’t very invested in the strife and power struggle between the various Aiel and the ongoing animosity between them and the Cairhienin.
(Though I will say that it is interesting to see how serving her time as a servant has changed things for Sulin. She has been away serving a punishment, and the position of leader of the Maidens has passed to Nandera—Sulin doesn’t just get it back because she is back in cadin’sor. I wonder if it would have been different if she had been made gai’shain. One’s honor is restored after one finishes the year and a day of service, and it is dishonorable to hold that time against someone who has been released. But does that mean you are guaranteed to return to your old place in society, your old position of authority, exactly as you left it a year ago? What happens if a clan chief is taken gai’shain, for example?)
In any case, I did love Jordan’s visual imagery with the telepathic way the wolves communicate. It’s really unique, and he does a really good job within the narration of letting us know that even what is being described is being translated. I’ve always loved wolves, and since they are usually painted as being on the side of the Enemy in epic fantasy stories, it’s great to have Jordan do the opposite. Not only are wolves on the side of the Light, but they are special and important, with unique abilities and a place in the battle against the Shadow. The fact that they can tell if a woman can channel is particularly neat.
And Perrin is as strong and loyal and steadfast as we always expect him to be. Getting to see him from Rand’s eyes showed that in a slightly different way—we don’t know what he was thinking when he asked to be let back out into the throngs of Shaido so he could try to save the rest of his men, but we do know that it would have been suicide. I was really moved by the moment, by the way Loial and Aram were ready to stand with him.
It’s interesting, because both Loial and Aram come from peaceful cultures which abhor violence. It is a bit different, since the Ogier do acknowledge that occasionally violence is called for, while the Tuatha’an reject any violence no matter the cost to themselves, but the symbolism works well. Now they both follow Perrin, who has had his own personal struggle with his desire for non-violence, almost a trinity of sorts. But Loial and Aram’s relationships to the violence they have chosen to perpetuate is very different. Loial doesn’t seem to have changed much as a person, however, and his righteous anger feels much healthier than the way Aram seems not only to have embraced violence but to crave it. Seeing the three of them, each willing to go back into the throng and probably die, really crystallized those differences for me. I’ll be interested to see if Jordan does anything else along this theme with the trio.
Finally thoughts:
- I love how literal Perrin is with his horses’ names.
- Loial’s crush on Erith is really cute, especially the bit where he got embarrassed for talking about her ears.
- I appreciated why Rand doesn’t want to be Healed by anybody or touched by Taim and the Power, but really, he needs someone who can look after him this way. He’s getting hurt all the time, and that isn’t going to change. We’ll probably have to wait for him to be reunited with Egwene and Nynaeve. Hopefully he at least will be able to trust them. Hopefully.
Next week we’ll tackle the epilogue, and any other end of the book thoughts I’m having about Lord of Chaos. And then it’s on to another book, another adventure, and, I predict, a lot more pain and heartache for Rand, and all our beloved heroes.
