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.
It’ll be nice to see reactions to this plot line from someone who isn’t filled with boredom when they get to this part of the reread.
Wheeze.
Mods, this line: “but Perrin was in more danger, so Faile had him brought to her tent to be Healed by Annoura.” should be “but Perrin was in more danger, so Berelain had him brought to her tent to be Healed by Annoura.”
@2 – Fixed, thank you.
This chapter, this right here is why Berelain is one of RJ’s most absurd creations. Most of her leadersho actions are deemed sophisticted and politically savvy to the point where she earns the respect of the Wise Ones(!), and by all accounts she managed to govern Cairhien with subtlety and wisdom….. AND THEN
She insists on trying bust open Perrin’s marriage for really imbecilic reasons. I know, I know people have said over the years and decades that she was merely trying to ally herself on a personal level with one of Rand’s most trusted surrogates, but that never really made much sense since she directly had Rand’s support (granting her stewardship over Cairhien, which is a pretty strong signal that she is the Dragon Reborn’s ally).
This part – “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.” –
Berelain’s entire motivation here actually all reduces down to her extremely petty rivalry with Faile from their time in Tear that she made an Ogier’s Oath that she would take Perrin from Faile, despite everything else going on, like, you know, armeggedon. It makes Berelain impossible to take seriously.
@5 – PREACH!
I was reading this and kind of chuckling and thinking, aw, how cute that Sylas is trying to find reasonable explanations for Berelain’s behavior!
I’ve said it before, but, while putting Berelain and Galad together was a very funny joke, I can’t imagine them lasting more than a week as a couple.
3 books of emo Perrin, 4 books of Elayne and her throne, 1 book of Rand in Far Madding. Sigh! Can’t wait for the clensing.
@8 – yeah. I am enjoying Sylas’s readthrough of The Slog 1000% more than I enjoy reading the actual books.
And I know it seems to be popular consensus that Knife of Dreams is one of the “good” ones in the series, but I think that’s only in comparison to the previous three volumes. It is an improvement but incrementally, not quantitatively.
I’m interested to see if Sylas manages to figure out that Noam didn’t “lose himself” to the wolf side. He chose it. It took Perrin forever to realize this. I’m betting Sylas gets it sooner.
Since Berelain’s behavior comes out of the playbook of a real historical personage, I really cannot say that her antics are that unbelievable. Caesar and Mark Antony were both happily married too. Perhaps not with as high of morals as Perrin.
@11 I read this twice before realizing you did not mean that Ceasar and Mark Antony were married to each other, hahaha.
Anyway, it’s a testament to Jordan that my thoughts about this aren’t so much about ‘ugh, can’t believe Jordan wrote such an annoying/shallow character’ but just annoyance at the character themselves. They still feel like a real character.
8. Chitnis.
1 book of Rand in Far Madding. Sigh! Can’t wait for the clensing.
Rand’s part in Far Madding was only a few chapters, in this book even.
@@@@@ 13 – Shhh, don’t ruin everyone’s fun about shitting on a storyline that doesn’t move as fast as they want! Soon you’ll be saying that something interesting actually happens in WH!
More generally, I don’t think Berelain is that unbelievable of a character. She’s a shitty person, but by that logic so is Faile, who jumps into her little competition with Berelain with gusto, despite the emotional and reputational damage she knows it will do to Perrin. Beyond that, plenty of characters in these books do way worse than Berelain despite the knowledge that the literal end of the world is upon them, despite not being Darkfriends. Berelain’s actions, while reprehensible and awful, don’t really detract from the general preparations for war and are very human. Why can’t she be both a capable ruler and politician, but also a detestable and petty human being? It doesn’t take much looking to find real-world examples of people who were far-seeing and intelligent political actors, while also being extremely stupid in their personal life. Alexander Hamilton was brilliant, but had affairs and died in a freaking duel! Throw a rock and you’ll hit 5,000 other examples.
Welcome back everyone. I hope everyone had a good holiday season
I keep going back and forth on Berelain. We are explicitly told that even after she has been given high office by rand that she is ever afraid that out of sight she will be forgotten, regardless of past services, but stilk this method never seemed a particularly good one. I always come back to the feeling that she a) fails to really look at the potential consequences of her actions, and/or b) that she is aware that he never really will give in. That if Perrin actually gave in she would find the victory hallow, and that she knows this, but her pride/desire to … Take comfort in?… The loyalty and steadfastness of Perrin compels her to keep it up. I always felt that was why she offers the truce, that when real consequences reared their head she was going to back off. As for her and Galad, yeah that was always comically absurd to me. I also never minded WH too much. There are a few pivotal events, and that was enough to satiate me I guess.
@12, LOL. Yeah, I probably should have named Cleopatra in my comment. I was overly cute and it blew up in my face.
I for one do think it will last with Galad. All of her machinations were for political purposes, so once the Dragon’s Peace is in place, and she ends up with the Lord Commander of the WhiteCloaks as Consort to the First (and he probably also is serving as the First Prince of the Sword of Andor), politically she will feel much safer. Frankly Galad is perfect for her politically, and if there is some love in there too, more power to Berelain.
One thing about Berelain is that her behaviour during the series conflicts with what we’re told about her history. Her stubbornness in pursuing Perrin, even after it should be clear that it’s both doomed to failure and would not achieve her goals if successful, makes her seem like an inept political operator. Maybe it says more about Tear that they were unable to manoeuvre her into a disastrous fixation before then.
@18 Somehow I don’t think “I don’t need to be a horrible person anymore because I have you now” is a line that’s going to work on Galad, the embodiment of Lawful-Good.
@10 – While Sylas has surprised me before, I don’t think this will be one of them. Noam wasn’t mentioned even once between TDR and TOM, which is when the Boundless reveal happens, so I don’t know how much opportunity for new thoughts about Noam’s situation there will be. But it’s true that earlier in TOM Perrin and Elyas have a conversation about choice, and he thinks about Noam then, so maybe then?
Hello my friends. I know we just came back from the holidays (hope eveyone had a great New Year!) but I’m afraid Reading the Wheel of Time is going on a two week hiatus. My dog was just diagnosed with cancer, and between the physical toll of vet visits and fguring out how to look after his needs, plus the emotional toll of knowing I’ll lose him, I’m dropping the ball on some of my other tasks and responsibilities.
So I will see you all again in the 23rd! Thanks for your understanding. I will say I have read the next few chapters and oh my, I was not expecting what happened at all! Looking forward to talking to y’all about it.
Oh, I am so sorry :( :( Cherish the remaining time with your pet!
So sorry to hear that, Sylas! :( Do not worry about us and take all the time that you need to have the maximum time with your dog (as a dog owner, I can imagine what you are going through). Wishing things will go as well as possible!
@19
The vast majority of our time in this series with any of Tear’s High Lords really doesn’t do anything to hurt the concept that Berelain might not have been that savvy overall, but compared to them, she was a grandmaster of chess.
I mean, the grand introduction of Rand In Tear has Thom causing a few to assassinate each other based solely on a few forged notes AND Rand (a hick farmboy who’s still trying to come to grips with his power and status) virtually face-palming every time he has to spend any amount of time in their presence AND until Mat whipped them into shape, all their heirs were drunken young twits. Most of them come off as Monty Python characters transported to a far more serious setting — the sort of thing where it’s pretty obvious that the status of High Lord is hereditary and there might have been a few instances of inbreeding in their genealogy.
@@@@@ 25 – I don’t know if this is entirely fair to the High Lords. If Jesus showed up tomorrow at your house, like undeniably Jesus Christ, savior of mankind, and started screaming that you are a terrible person and threatening you with actual damnation, you’d probably not be on your best game either.
The High Lords are, as a class, reprehensible people, but to say they’re idiots is a little too judgmental. Rand shows up and literally overnight starts threatening to hang them, he’s got an army that appeared out of nowhere, and now everything they’ve ever known is being tossed overboard. Hell, the oppressive oligarchy they’ve established is now gone; not only is there a singular ruler (who is also the literal savior of the world) stripping them of their power, he’s handing it back to the very people they were oppressing. What are they supposed to do? Of course they’ve lost their footing, when their entire social order, including their place at the apex of it, is being turned upside down. They have no recourse to their subjects, the way a Queen of Andor might, because they’ve done nothing to foster a prosperous agricultural class with a vested interest in their government. They’ve lost their monopoly on violence to enforce their rule, because Rand has his own army loyal to him, and the Defenders quickly come to identify with Rand and not the High Lords.
So yeah… they’ve got it coming to them, but to portray them as incompetent isn’t fair either. After all, they do a reasonable job at bringing aid to Cairhien, and then holding the city against the Aiel. They’re competent enough to carry out Rand’s wishes, once they realize they can’t weasel out of it. They just don’t have any effective means with which to combat Rand’s authority, once he’s broken into the Stone, proclaimed himself, and effectively shattered their self image. Of course Thom is successful at pitting them against each other – they’re all operating in a new normal, and a scary new normal. Much better to go on playing their games of intrigue with each other than face the fact that the embodiment of evil is about to escape and doom them all to a literal living hell.
@@@@@ Sylas’.bim so sorry to hear about your dog. I hope the mods pass along everyone’s well wishes.
@@@@@26 That is a really good point. I keep coming back to- especially now hearing everyone else’s comments, and not just being in my own head- how incredibly fast the whole story happens. I of course would like to think that I would be sensible and do the right thing, but it’s really hard to say. A lot of people aren’t really given much time to adjust, and much of the High Lords push back is centered around their own power structure which they might reasonably argue has nothing to with the last battle and that end ought to keep his mitts off of. They might feel that they can undercut him on that and as long as they still fight against the dark one they will win.
It’s probably also a bit of a problem that we are most often exposed to high lord’s and ladies which are just the worst, especially in path of daggers, because of Rand’s strategy of keep them close / using them as cannon fodder. I wonder how many other lords/ladies high or classic are just in tear the whole time doing their jobs and being competent. I can’t recall his name, I want to say algenar but that’s the wrong character, who rand stats with in tear when he is on the run. The estate near the spine where he uses blossoms of fire and death gates.
@26, and of course, the worst and most incompetent of them was screwing up on purpose since he was playing for the Enemy all along.
@Moderator. Did the prior comments to this post carry over to the new re-designed page? I cannot see them. My page also notes there have been no prior comments. But as of yesterday, there were over 20 comments.
Hello! So, we’re still porting over recent comments from the old site–they will show up, but it might take a few days. This and other questions you might have are covered in this article:
Welcome to Reactor! Here’s Where Everything Went and How to Use It
Not seeing a new article, did Sylas maybe make the post on the old platform or something?
@GreatMoon
Sylas’ mentioned before that they are dealing with cat health issues, and will be delayed.
@mod
I’m not seeing any of the old posts so yeah it seems like they didn’t transfer. I thought I was going crazy.
Hello friends! Some of the more recent comments haven’t yet made it over from the old site, so I’m just popping in to let you know that Reading the Wheel of Time will be back on schedule next week! I was hoping to have it ready this week, but the brain just wasn’t braining, you know?
But yes, I have already started on next week’s post, I have so many thoughts and feelings about the damane rehabilitation program and how Elayne is handling her friends and Nynaeve and Lan. It’s gonna be great.
As always, thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading along with me! It means a lot.
Thank you for working hard to do this when your going through a difficult time. We are all thankful and wish you well.
Thank you for the update, can’t wait to keep pressing forward!
I don’t know where to provide feedback, so I guess I’ll just do it here:
I’m pretty sure this redesign is going to make me just stop using the site. Beyond the massive ad and content now starting literally 50% of the way down my screen, there’s also now a permanent footer bar I don’t want, a floating green button I can’t get rid of, *and* the “more” link doesn’t work so I can’t even load the damn article in trying to read.
The entire thing is ugly, not even functional, and full of distracting, pointless UI elements. I’m a professional web app developer and I honestly can’t imagine launching something so ugly and broken. It’s intensely frustrating.
edit: oh, and I can’t click into the comment form fields, either. so I have to hit “post comment” so it will throw an error and put the cursor into the input box, fill it out, hit post again so it throws a new error about the email being missing and puts the cursor into the email input, etc..
Yep, pretty awful all around. Obviously someone at Tor got upsold by a consultant/marketing firm because they “hadn’t updated their website in years!” and got this godawful mess as a result.