This week in Reading The Wheel of Time, we’re covering Chapter 46 of The Fires of Heaven. I often don’t pay a lot of attention to chapter titles, but I really like the title of this one: “Other Battles, Other Weapons.” I was drawing the same parallels when I titled last week’s post “One Battle Ends and Another Begins” without realizing it. What’s fun about this chapter is we get to see Rand do some impressive politicking with the Tairens and Cairhienin, which we haven’t seen since he left the Stone and at which he has clearly gotten better. This chapter shows how far Rand has come, and how much he has changed, but it is also a good chapter to show us where Rand’s flaws lie, what things he still hasn’t learned or understood. Some of which feel like they should be obvious by now.
Also that boy needs to sleep, good gravy.
Rand is peering after the departing Asmodean, wondering how far he can trust the man, when Aviendha suddenly throws down her cup of wine. He’s startled—the Aiel never waste any liquid—and Aviendha looks surprised as well for a moment, before she starts to lecture him about going into the city when he can barely sit up, ignoring his requests for his clothes.
“Remember your toh, Rand al’Thor. If I can remember ji’e’toh, so can you.” That seemed a strange thing to say; the sun would rise at midnight before she forgot the smallest scrap of ji’e’toh.
“If you keep on like this,” he said with a smile, “I will begin thinking you care for me.”
He’s just teasing, but she seems furious, ready to rip off the bracelet he gave her and throw it at him. She threatens to go get Sorilea and Bair, or maybe Enaila, Somara, and Lamelle, who are the maidens who are most motherly and protective towards Rand. He tells her that she can bring whoever she wants, but he is the Car’a’carn and he is going into the city. Aviendha refills her wine and tells him that if he can find his clothes and dress himself without falling over then he may go, but she is coming with him.
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He stared as she stretched out on one elbow, carefully arranged her skirts, and began sipping at her wine. If he mentioned marriage again, no doubt she would snap his head off again, but in some ways she behaved as if they were married. The worst parts of it, at least. The parts that did not seem a pennyworth different from Enaila or Lamelle at their worst.
Rand gets up, awkwardly wrapping the blanket around his waist as he searches. He finds his sword wrapped in a rug and Aviendha tells him he doesn’t need it anymore, now that Couladin is dead. He’s surprised that she guessed it, and she explains that she doesn’t need anyone to tell her these things. She learns Rand more every day. Rand thinks about how the High Lords of Tear, and the Cairhienin, and even whole nations tremble at the name of the Dragon Reborn, but if he can’t find his clothes he will be stuck waiting for permission to leave the tent from a bunch of women who think they know better than he does about everything.
Eventually he spots the cuff of his coat sleeve sticking out from under Aviendha’s skirts and realizes she’s been sitting on his clothes the whole time. She grumpily lets him have them and channels to heat his water for him when he’s shaving. While he’s dressing she points out that Elayne won’t mind if she looks at him, which Rand finds oddly comforting—she doesn’t know everything.
He picks up the Seanchan spear—a grim reminder not only of the Seanchan but of everything he has to keep in mind—and leaves the tent. Aviendha is right at his side as if she expects to need to catch him, and Rand notes that Sulin looks to her for confirmation before ordering the Maidens to be ready to move.
Asmodean arrives, somehow having had time to dress, with his mule and Rand’s horse. Rand notes that he has found time to change.
Rand’s party consists of Asmodean and Aviendha, the Maidens, and a Cairhienin refugee named Pevin. Stone-faced and scarred, Pevin has lost all of his family either directly in the fighting over the Sun Throne or at the hands of Andoran soldiers and bandits when he attempted to flee the area. As far as Rand is aware, Pevin’s entire purpose is to stick close enough to the Dragon Reborn to see his family avenged. He rarely speaks or has any expression, but he carries Rand’s banner with the ancient Aes Sedai symbol steadily.
Rand tries to help Aviendha up onto Jeade’en behind him and nearly falls from the saddle, though he hopes no one notices. The rest of the Aiel take little notice of their departure from the camp, but Rand is struck by the sight of the twenty thousand Shaido prisoners sitting naked all around the hillside, barely guarded by a few gai’shain. Occasionally one or another is sent off on an errand, completely unguarded, while the rest sit quietly looking almost bored. Rand wonders if they will put on gai’shain white just as docilely; he can’t help remember that these people were willing to follow Couladin in violation of law and custom.
He also notices something else; about one in four or five Aielman is wearing a strip of red cloth around his forehead like a headband, “with a disc embroidered or painted above the brows, two joined teardrops, black and white.” Every gai’shain Rand can see is also wearing one, which startles Rand even more, since gai’shain are not permitted to wear anything that those who can touch weapons wear. He asks Aviendha what it means and she admits that she isn’t sure. The Wise Ones threatened to hit her when she asked about it, but she believes that they are siswai’aman.
Rand opened his mouth to ask the meaning—he knew a scant few words of the Old Tongue, no more—“when interpretation floated to the surface in his mind. Siswai’aman. Literally, the spear of the Dragon.
“Sometimes,” Asmodean chuckled, “it is difficult to see the difference between oneself and one’s enemies. They want to own the world, but it seems you already own a people.”
Rand doesn’t like the implication of ownership (or the fact that his understanding comes from Lews Therin’s memories) but he is uncomfortably reminded of his intention to use the Aiel.
He notes that none of the Maidens have donned the thing, and that Aviendha hasn’t either. She admits that she doesn’t know what to believe, and that even the Wise Ones don’t seem to know the truth. Some believe that following Rand will atone for the Aiel sin in failing the Aes Sedai. Rand is surprised to realize that Aviendha also feels emotion about the revelation of the Aiel’s true past.
“…many believe that you will kill us all in endless dances of the spear, a sacrifice to atone for the sin. Others believe that the bleakness itself is a testing, to wear away all but the hard core before the Last Battle. I have even heard some say that the Aiel are now your dream, and that when you wake from this life, we will be no more.”
The Wise Ones believe that what will be will be, and Rand notes that she includes herself in that group, just as Egwene includes herself when she talks of the Aes Sedai.
They pass Hadnan Kadere’s wagons, spotting the man mopping his face with a handkerchief as well as Moiraine moving among the wagons. Rand is surprised that Kadere hasn’t tried to sneak off yet—many of the other wagon drivers have, as well as Isendre, and Rand has given orders for the Aiel to allow him to escape as long as he doesn’t take the wagons or any of Moiraine’s artifacts from Rhuidean. Rand can’t think why the man has stayed, and Asmodean claims to have had no contact with him since Rand captured him.
Rand slows as they pass Moiraine, thinking that surely she will want to come with him. And for once, Rand would welcome her advice. But she just glances at him for a moment and then goes back to what she’s doing. He frowns and rides on, deciding that he’s become too trusting, and that he should remember that she has “other sheep to shear” that he doesn’t know about,
Trust no one, he thought bleakly. For an instant he did not know whether it was his thought or Lews Therin’s, but in the end he decided it did not matter. Everybody had their own goals, their own desires. Much the best to trust no one completely except himself. Yet he wondered, with another man oozing through the back of his mind, how far could he trust himself?
Rand tries not to look at the bodies or the scavenger animals, and even Asmodean and the Maidens seem eager to get away from the sight. But reaching the Foregate doesn’t improve things very much—the once bustling warren of noise and people has been reduced to a band of ashes surrounding Cairhien on three sides.
In places, a chair lying somehow untouched in the dirt street, a hasty bundle dropped by someone fleeing, a rag doll, emphasized the desolation.
Their approach creates a stir among the soldiers and retainers on guard at the city gates. Then an officer recognizes Rand and sends a messenger hurrying into the city before crying out to make way for the Lord Dragon and declaring the glory of the Lord Dragon. Aviendha sniffs as they all bow low to him, making Rand laugh.
What amused him was that however hard Tairens or Cairhienin or anyone else tried to puff up his head, he could rely on her and the Maidens, at least, to take the swelling down. And Egwene. And Moiraine. And Elayne and Nynaeve, for that matter, if he ever saw either again. Come to think of it, the lot of them seemed to make that a large part of their life’s work.
Inside the city he sobers again, where refugees are crowded in every space, cheering for the Lord Dragon, holding their children up to see him and even trying to push past the Maidens to reach him. Some even manage it, although Rand notes that many reach out to touch Asmodean rather than him—older and richly dressed, Asmodean certainly looks more like a lord—but everyone who manages to put a hand to boot or stirrup has a look of joy on their faces as they mouth “Lord Dragon” even as they’re forced back by the Maidens.
Meilan shows up then, along with a retinue of lesser Tairen lords and fifty Defenders of the Stone pushing a way for him through the crowd. Rand recognizes a few of the younger lords, including Reimon who used to play cards with Mat, and none of them seem to care at all if the crowd gets trampled by their passage. There are no Cairhienin in the group.
The Maidens let Meilan through at Rand’s nod, and he’s startled and angry when he realizes no one else was permitted to follow. He bows to Rand from his saddle and welcomes the Lord Dragon to Cairhien, apologizing for the peasants that he would have had cleared if he knew Rand was going to enter the city today. He tells Rand that he meant to give him an entry befitting the Dragon Reborn, and clearly doesn’t understand when Rand says he has already had it.
Meilan invites Rand back to the palace, continuing his almost groveling speech, and Rand thinks about how Meilan holds a deep contempt and hatred for Rand that he thinks Rand can’t see. Rand has the lords let in through the circle of Maidens and insists that Meilan’s Defenders follow behind, causing Meilan to first smile condescendingly and then grow angry as he sees the crowd part for the Maidens instead of needing to be fought, the way he and his men had to.
That they did not have to club a path through, he attributed to the Aiel reputation for savagery, and frowned when Rand made no reply. One thing Rand made note of: Now that he had Tairens with him, the cheers did not rise again.
At the palace they are met by an entire battalion of soldiers from Tear, all shouting for the Lord Dragon, Tear, and High Lord Meilan.
From Meilan’s expression, you would have thought it all spontaneous.
Servants come out to greet them, the first Cairhienin Rand has seen in the palace, and Sulin chooses twenty Maidens to accompany him inside. Rand is glad it’s not the lot of them, but wishes Enaila, Lamelle and Somara weren’t in the group. He can see them looking consideringly at him, and tries to smile reassuringly while secretly grinding his teeth and thinking that there must be one Aiel woman who will learn that he’s the Car’a’carn.
He’s met at the foot of the stairs by the other High Lords.
It was too good an opportunity to miss. Silently thanking Moiraine for her lessons—it was easier to trip a fool than to knock him down, she said—Rand clasped Torean’s pudgy hand warmly and clapped Gueyam on the point of a thick shoulder, returned Hearne’s smile with one warm enough for a close companion and nodded silently to Aracome with a seemingly significant glance. Simaan and Maraconn he all but ignored after one look as flat and cool as a deep winter pond for each.
He watches all their faces shift in thought, trying to decide what each of his greetings might mean, weighing the possibilities in the eyes of Daes Dae’mar, and Rand is amused by how off-balance they all look, and hopes that if he can keep them that way they’ll be too busy to trouble him, and might even obey orders. But he catches Asmodean grinning, and worse, Aviendha looking puzzled by his behavior, and barks at everyone to get inside.
The Maidens keep close around him, keeping the Tairens at bay, and a man at the door of the throne room announces the Dragon Reborn’s arrival, and it’s echoed by more shouting to the glory of the Lord Dragon. Rand enters to find the Tairens and Cairhienin nobility arranged with the Tairens all in front, even those of minor houses, and the Cairhienin behind. The Cairhienin look uneasy, and Rand isn’t certain many of them were part of the cheering.
At the far end of the Grand Hall Rand sees the Sun Throne, and realizes that he’s expected to sit in it. Asmodean and Aviendha follow him up the steps and Sulin arranges the rest of the Maidens around the dais, blocking Meilan and the High Lords, much to the latter’s frustration. The room is silent.
“This belongs to someone else,” he said finally. “Besides, I’ve spent too long in the saddle to welcome such a hard seat. Bring me a comfortable chair.”
There was a moment of shocked silence before a murmur ran through the Hall. Meilan suddenly wore such a look of speculation, quickly suppressed, that Rand nearly laughed. Very likely Asmodean was right about the man. Asmodean himself was eyeing Rand with barely hidden surmise.
A new chair is brought for him by some servants, and Rand tries to sit down without showing his relief to the women who are watching him so closely. He has already worked out what should be done here, with Moiraine’s help, and although he would have preferred to have her there to whisper in his ear instead of Aviendha waiting to drag him back to his bed. But he knows what to do.
He remarks that the Tairens came to help but that is no reason for the Cairhienin to hang back, and commands everyone to sort themselves by rank. Both Cairhienin and Tairens are stunned by the proclamation, but after some confusion and a lot of icy staring at each other, they rearrange themselves. Then the Cairhienin outnumber the Tairens in the front rows and around the dais.
Rand continues on to talk about how it is good that the banner of Tear is flying over Cairhien, since everyone in the city would have died without Tairen grain and Tairen soldiers. This puffs up the Tairens even as it confuses them, given Rand’s previous command, and the Cairhienin eye each other doubtfully as Rand continues.
“But I do not need so many banners for myself. Let one Dragon banner remain, on the highest tower of the city so all who approach can see, but let the rest be taken down and replaced with the banners of Cairhien. This is Cairhien, and the Rising Sun must and will fly proudly. Cairhien has her own honor, which she shall keep.”
The Cairhienin nobles suddenly go wild, cheering and waving their arms—Rand remembers Moiraine telling him about Cairhienin reserve and how, when it broke, the results could be surprising. He doesn’t know what they have read into his words, but he can see what she meant.
When the cheering finally died down, the giving of oaths of fealty began. Meilan was the first to kneel, tight-faced as he pledged under the Light and by his hope of salvation and rebirth to serve faithfully and obey; it was an old form, and Rand hoped it might actually constrain some to keep the oath. Once Meilan had kissed the tip of the Seanchan spearhead, trying to hide a sour grimace by stroking his beard, he was replaced by the Lady Colavaere.
It goes on, Tairen and then Cairhienin and then Tairen, as Rand has instructed, and he tries to not to look to impatient; the oaths are necessary according to Moiraine and also according to the Lews Therin voice in his head, but also a delay. He needs to make Cairhien secure before he can go after Sammael.
And that I will do! I have too much to do yet to let him go on stabbing at my ankles from the bushes! He will find out what it means to rouse the Dragon!
He did not understand why those coming before him began to sweat and lick their lips as they knelt and stammered the words of fealty. But then, he could not see the cold light burning in his own eyes.
It’s really funny seeing the little ways Jordan repeats himself; nothing is perhaps as blatantly repetitive as the braid tugging or the “punishment via bad-tasting herbal concoctions,” but the “women will try to take care of men by making them soup even if they can’t cook” has come up a few times and it’s making me laugh. There’s a weird sort of insinuation that wanting to cook for a man she cares about (romantically, in Nynaeve’s case, or as a pseudo-son in Lamelle’s) will make a woman who never cared about cooking suddenly have strong urges to make food for him, especially soup. I mean, I’m not saying that it would never happen, but it’s weird to suggest that it is an inherent part of a woman’s makeup, so to speak. Just like it was weird to suddenly suggest that Nynaeve, having never cared about cooking and been very frustrated that one time she tried to cook for Lan, doesn’t know that she’s bad at it. She can taste, after all.
I wonder if this is where Peter Jackson got his inspiration for that scene in the extended version of The Two Towers in which Eowyn makes Aragorn the inedible soup.
Another bit or repetition is the finding of a lost doll. It’s happened a couple times in post-battle scenes, as well as a few times in Tel’aran’rhiod. I get that it’s an eerie image, but the repetition keeps making me think it’s a clue to something, which I do not think is intended. I think Jordan’s just over-using a classic, although it does put me in mind of that scene from Disney’s Mulan (the animated version) when she puts the little doll next to the grave marker Shang puts up for his father. And I think that is the same feeling that Jordan is going for—this reminder of the innocent people who are not always seen during the battles, but who are really the ones the battles are (or at least should be) fought for. Perrin saw the doll in Tel’aran’rhiod when he was beginning to push for the changes that would culminate in the defense of Emond’s Field, for example. And Rand is the guy who tried literally to reanimate the corpse of a little girl when she was killed by Trollocs; we know that the ordinary people are always on his mind, even if they aren’t on the minds of his allies.
The Tairen lords certainly don’t think about those people, although that’s hardly a surprise. Rand knows he has to play the game of keeping them—and the Cairhienin lords, and eventually all the other nations’ leaders—on his side and following his orders, but the narrative has begun establishing who Rand’s real people are. Of course the Aiel are first and foremost here, but we’ll get back to that in a moment. First let’s consider the refugees in Cairhien. The way they respond to Rand with hope, with reverence, even with worship, is very much at odds with what we’ve seen from individuals in the past. So far Rand has had support from the Aiel and the Shienarans, who have a very particular relationship to war, death, and the fight against the Shadow. But whenever we’ve encountered ordinary people who have heard rumors that the Dragon has been reborn, they’ve reacted with fear and revulsion. We’ve seen the Dragon’s fang scrawled on people’s doors to accuse them of being darkfriends, and even common folk know a little bit about how the Dragon is prophesied to Break the world again. Most of the Aes Sedai still in the White Tower can’t stand to look at Elaida’s portrait of Rand, never mind speak about him. Mat’s one of Rand’s best friends and he’s only just now able to tolerate his company (while still plotting his escape).
So it surprised me when the refugees and poor people in the streets of Cairhien treated Rand like a savior, and a religious figure to boot. Sure, he and his Aiel came and saved them from the Shaido, which is especially poignant given their particular history with the Aiel. But I feel like there’s more to it even than that. These people are acting like the Shienarans did after they saw Rand battle Ishamael in the sky over Falme.
The key may lie in the fact that the Shaido were not the initial instigators of trouble in Cairhien. The civil war waged by the nobility over the Sun Throne had already wreaked destruction on the land, which is why Rand sent Meilan and the others into Cairhien in the first place. The Tairen High Lords clearly intend to take for themselves rather than actually help the people of Cairhien, and no doubt all nobles look about the same to the common folk. But Rand represents change, which is only scary until change is the only hope you have left.
Pevin is a perfect example of this. He lost his wife and sister to famine, his brother and a son to the civil war, another son to Andoran soldiers when he was trying to flee to safety, and another brother to bandits. And finally his last son was killed by the Shaido and his daughter carried off. He is staying with Rand in hopes of seeing these loved ones avenged, but even if that kind of justice wasn’t on his mind, the man has nothing to fear from the destruction of the World. His world is already destroyed, and the world that’s left is responsible for it. How many others is that true for, in the streets of Cairhien, or Tear, or Tanchico, or elsewhere? Some people might even hope that a new Breaking, although terrible, will bring them a different life or new chances. And there is certainly nothing to say that worship and fear can’t coexist. They often do.
The situation is even more complicated for the Aiel, of course. For them there is specific prophecy that their people will be destroyed, whatever happens to the rest of the world. And their society is more egalitarian than that of most others in Randland; there are leaders and chiefs, but no nobility as such, and no peasants or paupers either, as far as we’ve seen. So in that way they have less disparity in what they have to lose.
Which isn’t to say that they all have the same perspective on He Who Comes With The Dawn, as we have seen. It’s interesting to see Aviendha admit, even obliquely, that the Wise Ones don’t really know what the right thing to do is. Most of the Aiel are turning to the importance of duty in their society, but interpreting their duty in wildly different ways. Some have pledged to Rand fully, as seems to be the case with the siswai’aman. Others, like the Wise Ones and even the Maidens, follow because they must but hope to sway him, and possibly fate, when they are able. And an ever-increasing number are suffering from the bleakness, either running off to the Shaido, or off somewhere else, or trying to make themselves permanent gai’shain.
It makes sense that many Aiel, faced with the clash of their modern identity and their historical one, would hope to meld those two into an affirming sense of service and sacrifice by fighting and dying for Rand. And it’s not the first time we’ve heard the Aiel call their lives a dream; only a few chapters ago, when Rand hoped aloud that not too many of their number would die in battle, he received this reply.
“Life is a dream,” Rhuarc told him, and Han and the others nodded agreement. Life was only a dream, and all dreams had to end. Aiel did not run toward death, yet they did not run from it either.
Now Aviendha has told Rand that some Aiel have decided that the dream of life is Rand’s dream. I wonder what it would feel like to hold such a belief. It sounds terrifying, but I suppose I can see how it might strengthen you, too, to see your life as something belonging to someone else and therefore the responsibility of someone else.
Speaking of being responsible, Rand really isn’t. It makes sense that he wanted to make sure he entered the city before Meilan was ready for him, to see the truth of what was going on there and not whatever Meilan wanted Rand to see and to believe. But Aviendha is right too, and the Maidens and Wise Ones are right—he really could kill himself if he’s not careful, and he doesn’t know how to delegate. Or rather, he’s too guilt-ridden and also too suspicious to delegate.
He’s also really stuck on this idea that being the Car’a’carn entitles him to more obedience than he’s getting, even after the Aiel, including the chiefs, have repeatedly told him that it doesn’t mean being some kind of king, or even a High Lord around lesser lords. I get that he’s frustrated that the Maidens and the Wise Ones won’t just do what he wants without question, but what makes him think that they should? After all, he is aware that part of the women’s function in his life is to keep him from getting a big head with the way all the Tairen and Cairhienin lords are treating him. And that kind of head-swelling is only going to get worse as time goes on. Especially if he keeps getting more dangerous and Dragon-y, like he does in the the last paragraphs of Chapter 46.
I don’t know what was up with Moiraine or why she wasn’t interested in even speaking to Rand before he went into Cairhien. I imagine she doesn’t want to go herself, since she is from there and might be recognized by the Cairhien nobles, but did she refuse even to acknowledge him with more than a glance for some other reason? Or is she just preoccupied, and thinking that Rand already knows everything he needs to? Rand spent so long trying to get away from her, and now he wants her by his side and she’s not interested.
Not that I think his suspicion of her is warranted just because she was being weird and distant. He jumps straight to the thought that she’s going after some “other sheep,” and reminds himself not to trust her anymore than he does Asmodean. Asmodean, who is a literal member of the Forsaken and only not connected to the Dark One because Rand severed that bond. That seems like a bananas stretch, especially since Moiraine has clearly gained some of Rand’s trust, at least in her judgment on how to handle members of the nobility. One wonders if the taint is working on Rand here, making him more distant and suspicious even than he has reason to be.
He has that thought, “trust no one” and doesn’t know if it’s his thought or Lews Therin’s. What’s more, he doesn’t care, even though he recognizes that having Lews Therin there in his head suggests that he might not be able to fully trust himself.
So, it’s clear that the exhaustion of battle allowed the Lews Therin memories (persona?) to bleed through more heavily in Rand’s mind, and that he was so out of it that he wasn’t able to tell the difference. But although he’s a bit more in possession of his faculties now, it does seem like the Lews Therin voice is still there most of the time. Rand can mostly tell which thought is his and which is Lews Therin’s, but not always, and it has me coming back to the question I was pondering before, about how exactly Lews Therin’s thoughts and memories are in Rand’s head, and whether or not the taint is responsible for this bleed through from the past.
We know that these memories are factually true, since they have concerned things that we know from flashback scenes or that Asmodean recognizes. Or rather, we know that some of them are true—I have been making the assumption that they all are, but there’s actually no evidence that some of the memories and thoughts might be corrupted by the taint just like any of Rand’s own thoughts and perspectives might be. Which makes me wonder about this suggestion that might have come from Lews Therin that Rand should trust no one. Did the man really think like that? Granted the last part of Lews Therin’s life was pretty dark, and many of the Forsaken were his friends or at least colleagues, so I guess he has good reason to be suspicious of everything and everyone. But all the dominant thoughts Rand gets from Lews Therin seem very dark, and most of the “advice” seems along these same lines. So I wonder if the taint is at least partly responsible for which parts of Lews Therin Rand hears; the focus on suspicion and Ilyena’s death may be a reflection of the taint that existed on Lews Therin before he died or on the taint currently affecting Rand. Or both.
The Tairens really are the worst, aren’t they? I wonder what things were like in Cairhien after they arrived but before the Shaido showed up, given that the Cairhienin nobility seem pretty cowed by them. And there’s the whole thing where they were beating their way through the crowd in the streets with clubs. Also, the calculating way they seem to want to use proximity to Rand to claw their way to power just reminds me of the Forsaken. There’s a huge difference between the two in terms of degree, of course. But still. There’s a reason Asmodean thought of the Forsaken when he was confronted with the Cairhienin playing the Game of Houses, too.
I honestly laughed at the idea of the people touching Asmodean, again, literally one of the Forsaken, thinking he’s the Dragon. Sammael would spit.
Next week we return to Samara and the menagerie, where Nynaeve is still suffering and things are about to get real with the Whitecloaks and the Prophet. Chapters 47 and 48 to come, and until then, I wish you all a very pleasant week!
Sylas K Barrett would really like to spend a little more time with Moiraine and know what she is thinking and up to. Unfortunately the Wise Guide always has to be sidelined at some point, so the hero can come into his own, but she’s still around right now and we care about her, dang it!
I think Rand’s basic instinct is that while Asmodean is a horrible person and is not to be trusted implicitly, he’s also got literally no one else to turn to and Rand can rely on his selfishness and instinct for self-preservation to keep him loyal. Whereas Moiraine is infinitely more trustworthy and has goals aligned with Rand’s, but also represents a major political and military power which might compromise her loyalties to him.
And as usual at this point in the story, Rand’s instincts about who to trust and why are pretty spot on.
@Mods, this seems repetitive:
Not sure if the second sentence is necessary, maybe just change the first sentence to say “time to change”?
As for Moiraine not accompanying Rand, I always figured it was for 2 reasons:
1. Rand must be seen as his own man and not a White Tower puppet.
2. She knows from the rings that he will survive and she will see him again, so it’s less of a risk.
@1 – Interestingly enough, your comment here on Asmodean’s motivations just sparked a thought for me that I don’t think I’ve had before. There is quite an amazing symmetry here in terms of how/why the Dark One selects his followers (because of their selfish motivations) and why Rand is “trusting” his “follower”, out of the exact same reasons. Not really sure that this adds anything poignant to the narrative but RJ was a master at having lots of parallels in the story and this one was something I’d never noticed before. Rand would be appalled to be compared to the DO here!
@2 – I think your rationale regarding Moiraine is spot on with the first point and was always what I assumed too. Moiraine more than anyone is keenly aware of the importance of appearances when trying to deal with Cairheinin.
@3 – I think Rand’s motivations can be summarized more accurately as he prefers the followers who are open in their motivations. He’s actually pretty good about not holding grudges, and he repeatedly expresses the sentiment that while his enemies (political ones, not Darkfriends) are thorns in his side, he respects their convictions or at least their honesty. And the latter applies to Asmodean, who never really repents any of his bad deeds but does make it clear he’s on Team Rand, since he doesn’t have a choice, and backs that statement up with his actions. Whereas pretty much all the Aes Sedai, for example (including Moiraine) are chronically dishonest with him about their motivations and actions, even when they nominally align with Rand’s own goals.
Everybody had their own goals, their own desires. Much the best to trust no one completely except himself.
🙄 Oh RAND!!! Of course everybody has their own goals and desires! Why the heck shouldn’t they? Not all those goals and desires are selfish ones. You deduce what those goals and desires are then you know how far you can trust that particular person. Trust nobody turns out to be a Very Bad strategy and the major reason Rand can’t delegate.
Moiraine is right to stay away. She is a Damodred and the last thing Rand needs is for the Cairhienin to conclude he is a Damodred puppet. Of course she could have explained that to him, but maybe she assumed he’d already guessed it since he hadn’t sent for her. Maybe she was trying to show faith in him by accepting the decision to exclude her. Maybe the two of them are still misreading each other.
@5, you are exactly right about Moraine’s reason for staying behind. If she enters Cairhien at his side, the Cairhienin nobles will assume all the games Rand is playing with them are HER games, not his, and if they can just manage to isolate him from her (which, of course, would be pretty easy), they can get him to play their games not Moraine’s. Her decision not to play was very smart.
Also, she might be preparing for the events soon to come and in some ways preparing Rand to do these things without her around.
Agreed on Moiraine (and her own background) likely knowing what she was doing here not appearing with him.
I hope you read/enjoy New Spring eventually!
This is where even a cursory understanding of the American South of Robert Jordan’s childhood might come in hand…because that is most DEFINITELY a cultural thing from the South back then, and in many ways, still is. Is it realistic that such a trait would reveal itself in as many cultures as it does in the Wheel of Time? No, it’s not. This is probably an area where Jordan’s upbringing reinforced the idea in his brain over and over again.
She can also hear and has eyes…that doesn’t stop her from living in denial about all sorts of things regarding herself. AS has been established, Nynaeve is a master at not seeing something about herself that’s right in front of her face and patently obvious to everyone else. Why shouldn’t that extend to a sense of taste? Unlike the last one, Jordan is making a comment directly on Nynaeve with that tidbit, not on women in general.
@5
Of course everybody has their own goals and desires! Why the heck shouldn’t they? Answer: because its the end of the WORLD. Everybody knows that when the Dragon gets reborn it means that the Last Battle is close. Its normal for Rand to be a little frustrated at the fact that people cant put that as their first priority, while he (who is supposed to die at it) does. At least those who dont belive he is the Dragon have an excuse. If I where him I would probably react the same way. I mean, if the whole world depends on me and this battle, it would be to much of a risk to trust anybody who I could not be sure wont do something for their own benefit at some point. The answer is, of course, what you said: You deduce what those goals and desires are then you know how far you can trust that particular person. But this is easier said than done. Its not like you can just ask them. People tend to hide those things. And, those whose motivation he can understand, he trusts. By example Asmodean, he knows exactly how he stands with him. Knows exactly how much to trust him. Other examples are Lan and the Aiel chiefs. When they dont like something, they tell him.
On the other hand, I also understand his frustration with the Aiel not doing everithing he says (or anybody else, for that matter). He sees the Last Battle as a job he has to do. He wants to get it over with. He wants everybody to stop what they are doing, to fight the Last Battle and then resume with their lifes. And he doesnt think this is to much to ask because thats what he has done. And contrary to the rest, he doesnt even have the posibility to resume afterwards (he thinks). And honestly, the only ones I can excuse is the Aiel because they have that prophecy of him destroying them.
Instead what does he get? There are does who not belive him to be the dragon (the oblivious or exceptical ones), those who belive him to be the dragon, but for some reason completely forget what it means (I suppose they are in the phase of denial), those who remember what it means but have better things to do (like getting richer, more powerfull or, I dont know, buy shiny things. You know, things more important than the Last Battle) and those who want to win the Last Battle their way (I should probably change win for lose on this one). But wait, theres more. My personal favorites: those who want to help Rand, but only while it is on their benefit (I mean, obviously not dying or being enslaved by the Dark One isnt enough of a benefit). Its honestly no wonder that Rand prefers it when people obey him.
Now, I am not saying that not trusting anyone is the right thing to do. Im just saying that I find it very realistic and understandable; and that anybody who wasnt trained for ruling would find it extremely dificult to trust somebody on that situation.
Excuse me for any misspelling. English isnt my first language.
They key problem IMO is that Rand persists in seeing the Last Battle as a personal duel between him and the Dark One and everybody else as spear carriers or innocent bystanders. Not only is he unwilling for people to have personal goals but he denies them any agency at all. When they die it’s his fault. It’s all in his shoulders. It’s all about him.
Indeed, Rand couldn’t show up with a high-ranking Damodred (and AS to boot) in tow. I am surprised, given his display of political accumen in this chapter, that he himself didn’t consider it. After all, with his own experience he already knows what the locals are like.
@11:
Is it clear that Rand knows Moiraine’s family history at this stage? The only reason we know is because Thom revealed that to us in the Stone at the beginning of the last book. Is there reason to assume that Rand knows her last name is even Damodred?
No new post today?
@12
That’s a great question. I am not sure it is ever made clear when Rand learned that. I would think Moiraine would have brought it up in the course of her political training of Rand, given her experience not only as AS but as Cairhienin royalty. But as far as I can tell it’s not made explicit that Rand knows she’s a Damodred until The Gathering Storm chapter 29, when he thinks of her full name as she heads his list of women.
@13 – Correct, there will not be a new Reading The Wheel of Time post this week, but Sylas should be back next week!
@13
is it not made explicit when Rand hangs out with ”cousin” Caraline in Crown of Swords? Perhaps not. Perhaps just implied. Min certainly knew but I can’t remember if we were told Rand did.
@@@@@ 12 & 13
Very good question indeed (or point, if the question was rhetorical).
I don’t think Moiraine would’ve needed to bring up the fact that she’s a Damodred. Rand knows already that she’s an AS and from Cairhien. That’s more than enough. Plus she’s very reticent to advertise her heritage.
Can someone tell me why it still says 0 comments on the original page? I hate having to enter the page to check for new comments.
@10
Well, being honest, everything is always about ourselves (in my opinion, wont force nor wish this way of thinking on anybody else). Even when we do something good for another person, it is mostly because it makes us feel good. The fact is, everything we do affects other people. By example: if someone I love wants to kill themselves, I will try to stop them. It may be that they will change their mind later, but I may also be condening them to suffering because of that chance that is conviniento to me. And I am honest, I am doing it for myself. Because “I” would not want them to die. Because “I” would be sad and not be able to see them again. I know this will be a very unpopular opinion, but I never understood the problem with Moraine forcefully healing Rand. I saw Rand as childish on those moments. You dont want her to heal you because you will be on her debt? Thats stupid. You are on her debt only if you want to. She is healing you because she wants. Because you are the Dragon Reborn and it is in her own benefit to heal you.
My take on free will is and will always be: do what you want as long as you are willing to pay the consequences. Do something your friends dont want and take the risk of them hating you. Break the law and take the risk of going to jail.
I think that is somewhat similar to what Egwene’s mom told her, right? Some pithy quote about do what you want, but pay the price, and that was one of Egwene’s driving ideals.
Lisamarie @18: Actually, she learned that from the Wise Ones, not her mother; but, yes, that is exactly that philosophy.
@18, @19:
I think it’s more about “do what you think is right/necessary, but be willing to pay the price.” In the Tony Stark/Steve Rodgers debate, Egwene would definitely fall more on the side of Team Cap.
Of course, in reality, Tony’s motto is more “Accountability is great, it allows someone else to take the blame when I go ahead do whatever I feel like in the end anyway.”
@@@@@ 20 – I think Tony’s motto is more “we tried to do what we thought was right, and pay the price, and people suffered and died for it – how can we demand other’s pay that price without asking them?”
Cap is Plato’s ideal philosopher-king. His instincts are almost always good and he’s a truly selfless person. But his theoretical justification for the Avengers is deeply problematic. Ignore the paternalism that comes with the attitude of “we’ll save you, and we won’t even give you the chance to save yourselves.” What happens when Cap is sick, as with Plato’s scenario? What happens if he’s mind-controlled? Team Cap’s biggest supporters are who? Wanda, who just a few months earlier was a wanted international terrorist (which is never dealt with), Clint, who we see is perfectly capable of turning into the murderous vigilante who exemplifies and justifies all the fears about independent superhero teams in the first place, Bucky the notorious assassin and criminal, Scott Lang the (justly) convicted criminal, and Sam Wilson. Pretty much all of those people have a history of committing heinous crimes, and the fact that it’s often because they’re mind-controlled or deluded only reinforces the point that you cannot trust an individual with the unilateral right to nullify national sovereignty and to carry out acts of violence without some semblance of the consent of the people who might suffer from it.
@@@@@ 10 – Rand doesn’t deny everyone their agency. He views his life as a campaign (you know… Last Battle) and expects people to obey the chain of command. Even if he doesn’t think of it in modern terms, he’s aware of how orders flow down from a leader and are carried out. The people he trusts get significant autonomy to do their jobs; there is no removal of agency, only the justifiable expectation that his orders are to be carried out. He allows for dissent and discussion, but at the end of the day, he’s the Dragon and it’s not unreasonable, given his experience to date, to presume that even if he doesn’t know what he’s doing, his instincts have generally been right.
And yes, he has a problem with wanting to spare others suffering, which is his entire character arc, so it’s hard to complain too much about it. At this point in the story, he’s 100% in the right to not trust most others and to feel frustration that his allies insist on imposing their own priorities over his, when his priority is preventing the literal end of the world and triumph of Evil. Asking for special consideration in the face of that, or worse, obstructing that goal for personal benefit, should rightly be condemned
Anthony Pero @20: Yes, I was sloppy in my reply. The actual quote from ACoS is
There’s a huge difference between “want” and “must”, as you correctly point out, and the Wise Ones’ lesson is the “safer” version.
@21:
Cap’s problem with signing the Accords (which he did consider, and almost signed—he understands the purpose behind them, and doesn’t fully disagree) was that by signing them, he would give up his agency to ACT. His morality would not allow that, because he views the personal choice of NOT ACTING to prevent harm as making him culpable in the harm itself. Handing that Agency over to another group or person just shifts when that culpability occurs, in Cap’s view of morality.
Tony viewed signing the Accords as giving that responsibility, that agency, up to someone else, so that he would no longer be culpable either way—if bad things happened as a result of either acting, or not acting, it was someone else’s fault. That’s why they had the lady confront him in his first scene of Civil War. Tony wanted out from under the burden of that guilt, that culpability, that personal responsibility. He thought the Accords would give him that out.
But, when push came to shove, Tony chose to act on his own ANYWAY. He did not allow himself to be confined by the restraints of the accords. He lied to Thunderbolt Ross about not knowing where they were going, then, without authorization (permission) went to stop them anyway. Because he wanted to protect his friends. Tony’s morality doesn’t even BLINK at this discrepancy. Cap’s, of course, would.
Both Cap and Tony would agree with the statement “do what you think is right/necessary, but be willing to pay the price.” The difference is Tony doesn’t think it’s wrong to sign the accords when he knew he would violate them whenever he felt necessary. Cap does. So he did what he felt was necessary (not signing the Accords), and was willing to pay the price for it (being on the run when he decided to help Bucky.)
Similarly, Egwene has a more flexible view of where that moral line is (like Tony Stark) than someone like, say, Perrin has. The other extreme example is Galad. He is the brutal amalgamation of Tony Stark and Cap—he uses his own definition of morality to never bear the weight of his own choices. He has achieved the freedom from guilt that Tony seeks using the methods of personal morality, like Cap.
This is what makes Steve Rodgers so unique—one of the prices he’s willing to pay to do what he thinks is right is the burden of guilt and responsibility that comes with being wrong. This is a price that Egwene is willing to pay, as well as Perrin, but Tony and Galad are not. Its interesting how these traits bear different fruit in each series.