This week in Reading The Wheel of Time, we’re covering chapters five and six of Winter’s Heart, in which Perrin struggles to keep it together and nobody succeeds in giving him useful advice. Also, despite my earlier predictions, Masema shows up. Berelain continues to Berelain and nobody likes it.
Young Bull is running in the wolf dream, looking for Faile. He remembers finding her there before. Hopper appears, warning him that he has come to the dream too strongly and urging him to hunt for Faile in the waking world. Lost to fear, Young Bull tries to fight Hopper, but Hopper evades him easily, and commands Young Bull to go back.
Perrin wakes to find himself naked in Berelain’s bed, with Berelain keeping watch over him. She tells him that both he and Tallanvor would have frozen to death if Berelain hadn’t come looking for Perrin. Tallanvor just needed warm blankets and hot soup, but Perrin was in more danger, so Berelain had him brought to her tent to be Healed by Annoura.
Perrin’s scouts haven’t returned yet, but the men Berelain sent out were found killed in an ambush. Perrin asks for his clothes, and ignores Berelain when she insists he needs rest. She leaves, and Perrin gets dressed, but when she comes back she offers him a shoulder to cry on, saying that they can call a truce until Faile is found. Perrin asks why they would need a truce.
“Very well, Perrin. If that is how you want it.” Whatever that was supposed to mean, she sounded very determined. Suddenly he wondered whether his nose had failed him. Her scent was affronted, of all things! When he looked at her, though, she wore a faint smile. On the other hand, those big eyes held a glint of anger.
She tells him that the Prophet’s men have been arriving since before daybreak, and that Masema has brought a good deal more than the agreed-upon one hundred men. Perrin is stuck by the news that Masema has been talking with the Seanchan, but much more surprised by the revelation that his wife has been using Cha Faile as spies. Berelain assumes that Perrin already knew this, and mistakes his surprise as being about the Seanchan. She tells him that she is glad he can be discreet, and tells him that her scouts were not killed by Aiel but by men with crossbows. Perrin is angry that she waited to reveal that information.
Berelain starts flirting in earnest. Perrin’s meal is brought in at that moment, but he is too busy getting away from Berelain to eat it. He goes to find Dannil, who informs him of the location of Masema’s followers. Perrin reminds Dannil of the danger posed by the Prophet’s zealots, mentioning the death of Berelain’s men. Perrin can tell that more snow is coming, but still gives the order to prepare for travel, and for his horse to be saddled.
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Master Gill approaches Perrin to report that Tallanvor has ridden off. The young man claimed to have Perrin’s permission—Perrin knows that he’ll have to punish Tallavor if he calls out the lie, and so confirms that he did, in fact, give permission. Perrin promises Gill that he will deliver any news of Maighdin as soon as he hears it, then asks Lini if there is anything to eat. She snipes at him, surprising Perrin, who then presses Gill for an explanation.
Perrin is horrified to realize that Berelain’s maids have been spreading rumors about what Perrin was up to in her tent. Furious, Perrin orders Gill to make sure Lini knows that the only thing Perrin did in Berelain’s tent was sleep, then stalks off, worrying about the impression such a rumor would have on the men from the Two Rivers.
He’s approached next by some of Faile’s followers, and he angrily asks them about the spying they have been doing on Faile’s behalf. Selande, the leader of the group, holds her own against Perrin’s anger, assuring him that they would die for Faile. They come to a truce, with the group agreeing that they will obey Perrin until Faile’s return.
As Perrin is mounting, Sulin and the Maidens return, along with the three Warders. They have found Alliandre’s horse as well as some clothing.
“All of the men were killed,” the wiry woman said, “but by the garments we found, Alliandre Kigarin, Maighdin Dorlain, Lacile Aldorwin, Arrela Shiego, and two more also were made gai’shain.” The other two must have been Bain and Chiad; mentioning them by name, that they had been taken, would have shamed them. He had learned a little about Aiel. “This goes against custom, but it protects them.”
Sulin also shows Perrin a doll that Elyas found beneath the snow, and explains that they saw evidence of carts. She believes it may be a whole sept, which means a thousand spears, or more. There is also evidence of other large groups, perhaps Whitecloaks or Seanchan, and of strange Seanchan creatures.
Perrin decides they will travel forty miles due south, and sends Neald to go find Elyas and Jondyn and fill them in. He is about to go find Masema when the man arrives, having come to Perrin. Perrin wonders if the timing has to do with being ta’veren.
Masema claims that every follower of the Dragon demanded to come, and that he could not refuse those who serve the Lord Dragon. Perrin gives Masema orders to head east, but when Masema learns that Faile was kidnapped, he wants to come with them. Perrin warns him that they are going to Travel, and after musing aloud that “he” would be grieved if harm came to Perrin’s wife, Masema decides that there will be a dispensation, just this once, to find Perrin’s wife because Perrin is the Dragon’s friend.
Perrin opened his mouth, then closed it without speaking. The sun might as well rise in the west as Masema say what he just had. Suddenly Perrin thought that Faile might be safer with the Shaido than he was here and now.
I’m really glad for Perrin that Berelain didn’t guess that Faile was keeping him in the dark about using Cha Faile as spies. I think she could have used that knowledge to hurt him, deeply, and right now I don’t think he can rationally handle that sort of thing. I mean, the man stood in the snow until he got hypothermia and passed out—he’s clearly not functioning well. Unfortunately, rationality and perspective is something he really needs for the quest he’s about to undertake, what with the Aiel, the Seanchan, and Masema to worry about—and I don’t know how well he’s going to be able to scrape that together.
I think I made a comment a few weeks ago that Perrin is slightly better than Mat and Rand when it comes to having friends he relies on, and even when it comes to being emotionally vulnerable. I mean, he’s not amazing at it, but he is a bit more outwardly honest about his feelings, and he confides more in his friends, like Gaul and Elyas, and in Faile of course. Unfortunately Faile isn’t there to counsel him on the best way to handle his fear of losing her, or to wife-bully him into at least eating food before he sets out on a twenty mile ride through the snow, after having been recently Healed of hypothermia and frostbite.
Someone really needs to point out to Perrin that nearly freezing to death, being overcome with worry to the point of not eating or resting, and letting his desire to find Faile blind him to the potential pitfalls of trying to find her are not serving his goal of, you know, finding Faile. He can’t find her if he’s dead or too weak to function. But instead of something practical like that, he gets advice like “go drink yourself to sleep” from the Wise Ones and a lot of flack from Lini and the folks who think he’s sleeping around with Berelain. I can’t really blame Lini, since she’s just met him, but I’m wondering how accurate Perrin is in suspecting that the Two Rivers folk also believe the stories. They all hail from a small town, where rumor can be a killer, but they also know and respect Perrin. You’d hope that they’d view such unsubstantiated rumors with at least a little bit of skepticism.
Perrin is worried that he might lose the respect of his men, and probably more so because they are no longer his peers. He is getting better at allowing his men to do their jobs for him, because he has to, but it still pains him so much. I’ve observed several times over the course of the read how the transition from peasant (or farmer or shepherd or blacksmith) to noble is perhaps even more of a culture shock than going from one country to another, but there is a section in chapter six that reminded me of something. For Perrin, this transition isn’t only about having to learn a different language and manner, or even about learning to define himself and his worth in a different way. It’s also a profound loss.
Faile said he had to live with all the Lord Perrining and bowing and scraping, and most of the time he managed to ignore it, but today it was another drop of bile. He could feel a chasm growing wider between him and the other men from home, and he seemed to be the only one who wanted to bridge it.
Again we see the parallels to Rand, here. The chasm between the Dragon Reborn and other people is of course much larger than the chasm between a peasant and even the highest noble in the land, but Perrin is basically experiencing the same distancing and isolation that Rand has been forced to endure. I was just observing above that Perrin is more likely to confide in his friends, but here we have a reminder that he is actually in the process of losing, or perhaps has already lost, most of the people he would call friends. And that loss is entirely down to the fact that his former peers now see him as something different from themselves. Something they admire and respect (as long as Berelain doesn’t ruin it for him) but not someone they can connect with the way they could with Perrin the blacksmith. And we can see from the above quoted that Perrin does experience this as a painful rejection, and can’t understand why his former friends would want to draw this line between them.
Perhaps this is why he is so careful to lie and say that he gave Tallanvor permission to leave in search of Morgase. Perrin wouldn’t have wanted to discipline Tallanvor at any rate, and although he considers Tallanvor’s actions to be foolish, he also relates to them, having nearly made the same decision. More than that, though, he might very well see Tallanvor as more of a peer than anyone else around him at the moment. Tallanvor loves passionately and deeply and wholeheartedly, as Perrin does, and he is possibly the only person who can understand what Perrin is going through. Plus, although Perrin doesn’t know it, Tallanvor also loves a woman who is of a much higher station in life than he is. Perhaps some part of Perrin recognizes that kinship, even without being aware of why.
All that being said, Perrin needs more friends to stand by him, and right now he has fewer available than ever. Berelain certainly hasn’t done Perrin any favors, either in spreading that rumor or in the advice she’s giving him. Or not giving him. Obviously she doesn’t care about Perrin as a person. She sees him as a prize to be won, a toy, and probably also a political chip to gain favor with Rand for herself and Mayene. She is, however, very intelligent and capable in a strategic and political sense, so much so that Faile thinks that under different circumstances they would have been friends! You would think that she would realize that this is the wrong time to sow doubt about Perrin’s integrity as a person; even if such rumors wouldn’t faze Mayeners, she surely knows enough about the world to understand that other cultures take a harsher view of infidelity.
And maybe Berelain doesn’t actually care about getting to marry Perrin. I’ve been assuming that becoming his wife is part of her political maneuvering, but maybe she thinks that being his mistress will be enough to make Perrin care about her, which in turn will prompt him to fight for Mayene’s interests on her behalf. Or maybe she just doesn’t view Perrin and Faile’s marriage as legally binding? Perhaps for Berelain, a ceremony conducted in the backwoods of Andor doesn’t matter much in comparison to the formal Saldaean one that someone of Faile’s status would otherwise have had.
But even for those who don’t personally care what Perrin was doing in Berelain’s bed, a sense among the troops that he lacks integrity could result in doubt around his trustworthiness in other matters, and even in his ability to lead. There is already strife around his friendship with Aiel, and now we’re adding the Prophet’s men to the mix. In this situation, with Aiel, Seanchan, and Masema to contend with, even a slight hesitation in following Perrin’s orders could be disastrous.
Berelain even tries again to convince Perrin that the Wise Ones and Aes Sedai are right about Masema during their conversation, but she hasn’t done anything to gain his trust, or his respect for her advice. Instead she just starts flirting again, a thing she knows he hates and goes out of his way to avoid. And what happens? The leader of this entire group, who already doesn’t have his full wits about him, goes without food after nearly freezing to death and being Healed by an Aes Sedai. There’s no way he’s going to be functioning as well as he needs to be, given what they are likely to be riding into.
Berelain may think that Perrin’s reactions to her are misguided, silly, or certain to change if she just sexually harasses him enough, but she has proven that she knows that there are moments when she needs to put this behavior aside. It seems like she offered the truce for this reason, but because she was offended when Perrin didn’t take her up on it, she decided to double down instead. Regardless of what she thinks of Perrin, for her own sake and for the sake of everyone in the camp, she should be doing her best to keep him as calm and rational as she can. She should have gone with the truce regardless of his reaction.
Actually, now that I think about it, Berelain was probably offended by Perrin’s reaction, or lack thereof, to her offer because it was the exact thing Faile wants and expects him to do. By appearing not to know or care why they might need a truce, Perrin showed that Berelain’s actions didn’t mean anything to him. I don’t think that was even his intent, but she probably assumed he was playing the game, just as she assumes that he knew about Faile’s spies and purposefully misled her about it. As we’ve seen before, those who play games always assume everyone else is playing, too.
Still, it’s too bad Perrin didn’t think to accept the truce, for whatever reason. Perhaps he doesn’t believe Berelain would keep her word. After all, he doesn’t believe her when she says she hopes Faile is found alive, even though she smells honest. In his position I probably wouldn’t either. Or maybe he’s just too busy trying to act like he doesn’t care that she came back in to pay much attention to what she’s saying.
“A truce?” he said, carefully bending to tug on a boot. Carefully so he did not fall over. Stout wool stockings and thick leather soles would have his feet warm soon enough. “Why do we need a truce?”
There’s no observation, there or elsewhere, about whether he thinks she’s lying or wondering why she would make such an offer. Then the subject of Masema comes up, she dials up the harassment flirting, and he has to run away. But I do think that she meant it, and that her offer to be a shoulder to cry on was also genuine. She’s a weird sexual harasser whose motivations and goals still don’t make sense to me, but she smells honest when she says it and is then affronted when he (seemingly) pretends not to know what she means by a truce. And there is a difference between having a bitchy rivalry with Faile in which she tries to steal Perrin and wanting to see the woman murdered by Aiel.
I don’t blame Perrin for needing to get away from Berelain, but, again, he’s not going to be very effective in his single-minded goal of rescuing Faile from the Shaido if he doesn’t eat something, and rest too. He’s gotten himself into a very bad position, and I feel like it’s going to have some consequences for him, and possibly for the people following him. We can see in the end of chapter six that he’s struggling to think through what to do about Masema, and what it means that there are Seanchan out there somewhere. Personally, knowing that Masema has been talking with the Wise Ones, I am guessing that Perrin could find himself in an ambush, caught between Masema’s followers and whatever forces the Seanchan have been able to send to intercept them.
I really didn’t expect Masema to show up at all, and I’m very curious about his decision to allow Traveling “just this once.” That he finds it justified in this one instance because Rand would want Faile found doesn’t make much sense. Rand gave a direct order for Masema to be brought to see him via a Gateway, and I would think that would strike the zealot as more important than the wife of a friend of the Dragon. On the other hand, it is possible that he has decided, as many of his followers have, that Perrin is some kind of darkfriend or shadowspawn. He may believe that Perrin’s claim to be sent by the Dragon is a lie, and could be laying a trap for Perrin and everyone who follows him.
We see Perrin trying to put together the puzzle of Masema and the Seanchan at the end of chapter six. He might be on the verge of coming up with a similar theory, but is too exhausted and faint to get there. He does, however, clock how very surprising and out of character Masema’s decision is, and knows that it means trouble. I’m not sure if Faile is safer with the Aiel than Perrin is with Masema, not with the likes of Sevanna and Therava, but it’s probably a near thing. And at least Faile has eaten something recently.
Also, Faile isn’t blinded by her fear, the way Perrin is. I think it’s really relevant that Perrin’s worry is primarily expressing itself in anger, too. He’s losing perspective, lashing out at the wrong people or in unhelpful ways, and he’s willing to prioritize Faile’s safety over that of everyone else, to a degree that’s actually pretty horrifying. Just a few chapters ago we saw Perrin thinking back on the horrors of Dumai’s Wells, determined to do everything in his power to prevent such a thing from happening again. And now, we get this:
That was changed, now, and he knew the price of changing. A very large price. He was prepared to pay, only it would not be he who paid. He would have nightmares about it, though.
And also this:
Perrin saw a tide of flame rolling across Amadicia into Altara and perhaps beyond, leaving death and devastation behind. He took a deep breath, sucking cold into his lungs. Faile was more important than anything. Anything! If he burned for it, then he burned.
In both cases, Perrin is thinking about the fact that he is planning to abandon his job of escorting Masema to Rand in favor of chasing after Faile. He knows about the looting and murder that have been committed by the Prophet’s followers, about the murder and torture that Masema himself has ordered. He knows that anywhere they go they will behave the same, and countless people will suffer for it. Remember how angry Perrin was when they rescued Morgase and encountered the man with the necklace of ears? He knows if he lets Masema and his men travel on their own, there will be more ears taken. But for him, only Faile matters. He’s willing to let other people pay the price, and to burn for it one day himself.
And you know, I get it. I’m married to someone I love more than I am able to express. It’s real. But this story is all about the cost of becoming a hero, of being a chosen one, and Perrin is a chosen one, though he’s not the Dragon Reborn. He is tied to Rand and to the fate of the Wheel; his choices may very well affect almost as much as Rand’s do. For all he knows, this choice to follow Faile could cost Rand dearly, even cost him the Last Battle itself. In his position, I might very well make the same choice, but it is, at its heart, a selfish one.
Chapter five opens with Perrin lost in the wolf dream, caught up in his pain and in the memory of that time Faile’s mind was trapped in Tel’aran’rhiod. When Hopper comes to help him, to remind him of reality, Perrin attacks him. When he wakes, he’s horrified at the realization of what he’s done; if he had succeeded in killing Hopper in the Dream, Hopper would have been lost permanently.
On my first pass through the chapter, I originally assumed that Perrin passed out from the cold and then went to the wolf dream, and that he lost himself to the wolf once he was in Tel’aran’rhiod. But Berelain tells him that everyone was afraid to go near him because he would snarl like a wolf at anyone who did. This makes me think that, in his pain, Perrin might have been slipping a little closer to losing himself to the wolf, like Noam from The Dragon Reborn. Some of the ways Perrin is handling losing Faile are very human, but much of his pain is expressing itself in an animalistic way, as well. It’s possible he might find himself in danger of losing himself again, in the future.
However, I think there is a danger Perrin is facing right now that is greater than losing himself to the wolf. And I think this experience with Hopper needs to serve as a warning. Yes, he was dreaming and not aware of himself in the same way, but if he is so lost as to attempt to do such a thing to Hopper, it’s possible he may do other dangerous things to the people he cares about. He may cross lines he shouldn’t cross.
Thematically, I think Faile’s capture is going to be the next step in Perrin’s journey of relating to his inner capacity for violence. Ever since he found out she’s been taken, he has been filled with rage, not only at his enemies, but also at his friends, and those who are trying to help him. I can’t help but wonder what he will do if and when he catches up with the Shaido. If he’s willing to leave innocents in Masema’s path, what will he be willing to do to his enemies?
That rather ominous thought concludes this week’s read! Next week we will be heading back to Caemlyn to catch up with Elayne and Birgitte, who are dealing with some transitions of their own. But in the meantime, can I just say how much I loved the absolutely perfect shade that Perrin threw at Selande and the rest when they demanded their horses? “Aiel walk.” BURN. Thank you very much, Mister Sassy-Wolf-Pants.
Sylas K Barrett would like to give a very special shout-out this week to the six-toed cats of the Two Rivers. He loves each and every one so very much.
