You gotta know when to walk away, Wheel of Time Reread Redux, and know when to run!
Today’s Redux post will cover Chapters 45 and 46 of The Dragon Reborn, originally reread in this post, and Chapter 47, originally reread in this post.
All original posts are listed in The Wheel of Time Reread Index here, and all Redux posts will also be archived there as well. (The Wheel of Time Master Index, as always, is here, which has links to news, reviews, interviews, and all manner of information about the Wheel of Time in general on Tor.com.)
The Wheel of Time Reread is also available as an e-book series! Yay!
All Reread Redux posts will contain spoilers for the entire Wheel of Time series, so if you haven’t read, read at your own risk.
And now, the post!
Before we start: Good news, everyone! I got to cast the WOT TV series! Well, not actually, but as close as I’m ever going to get. So if you haven’t already, head on over there and violently disagree with my opinions, as is only right and proper!
Onward!
Chapter 45: Caemlyn
Redux Commentary
I’ve always loved Caemlyn as it was described in the books; it sounds like exactly the kind of place I would love to visit, and probably (assuming I lived in Randland) where I would want to live, too. I have always been a city girl (the smallest place I’ve ever lived for any length of time is Austin, Texas, which at 800,000+ inhabitants is not “small” by any reasonable definition), and Caemlyn as described has always weirdly reminded me of New York, one of my favorite places in the world.
Obviously, Caemlyn doesn’t look anything like the Big Apple—it’s probably meant to be more of a riff on a huge version of Mont St. Michel than anything else, architecturally, even though Sweet’s cover art for TFOH gives it a rather Middle Eastern flavor, actually—but the energy of it, the bustle and close, crowded vibe, that all reminds me of Manhattan.
“I am lucky, Master Gill,” Mat said. “You just have a good meal waiting when I come back.” As he stood, he picked up the dice cup and spun the dice out beside the stones board for luck. The calico cat leaped down, hissing at him with her back arched. The five spotted dice came to rest, each showing a single pip. The Dark One’s Eyes.
“That’s the best toss or the worst,” Gill said. “It depends on the game you are playing, doesn’t it.”
That just about sums up Mat’s luck in general, I think.
I mentioned in the original commentary that Mat is a character “tailor-made to appeal”, and that has continued to be true, but I think it’s more than just the “lovable rogue” aspect of him, or even the badassery aspect (no small thing). It’s also that I think most of us are fascinated by people for whom money is genuinely of no concern. Whether it be because they are already filthy rich, or because they are like Mat—someone who knows he can always go and get more with no problem once what he has runs out.
I knew a guy once who was a professional poker player, and he always spent money like it was going out of style. And once it ran out, he would just hie him off to Vegas to win some more. I found this approach to life vaguely horrifying, but also fascinating. I feel something like the same way about Mat’s attitudes toward wealth.
Of course, given that there’s an apocalypse approaching in Mat’s world, spending money like it’s going out of style might be literally true for Mat, so he has a bit more justification for it than my gambling friend, if you ask me. So there’s that.
Chapter 46: A Message Out of the Shadow
Redux Commentary
[…] for three days they had climbed the cliffs, and slept under the sky, and eaten eggs filched from redcrests’ nests, and plump, gray-winged grouse fetched with an arrow, or a stone from a sling, and rabbits caught with snares, all the while laughing about how they were not afraid of the mountains’ bad luck and how they might find a treasure. [Mat] had brought home an odd rock from that expedition, with the skull of a good-sized fish somehow pressed into it, and a long, white tail feather dropped by a snow eagle, and a piece of white stone as big as his hand that looked almost as if it had been carved into a man’s ear.
Something tells me Jordan read a lot of those boys’ adventures books when he was younger. Or hell, maybe he had a lot of boys’ adventures when he was younger, I don’t know. Either way, I’m amused by the distinct Tom Sawyer vibe he sometimes gives the Superboys, especially Mat.
I also love how it never seems to occur to Mat that infiltrating a heavily-guarded palace exactly how an assassin would is a great way to get yourself shot on sight. Of course, the fact that he also thinks infiltrating a heavily-guarded palace is a piece of cake puts another tick in the “badassery” column, so okay.
As does his facility at lying, as well. Again, it’s the kind of thing most people tend to be really awful at, so even if in principle it’s bad to be an accomplished liar, it still tends to be an impressive skill to the rest of us.
[Morgase:] “A young man who has left his small village often finds it difficult to return to it. I think you will travel far before you see Comfrey again. Perhaps you will even return to Tar Valon. If you do, and if you see my daughter, tell her that what is said in anger is often repented. I will not remove her from the White Tower before time. Tell her that I often think of my own time there, and miss the quiet talks with Sheriam in her study. Tell her that I said that, Thom Grinwell.”
I can’t figure out if this is meant to be the coded cry for help it seems like to me. Because, if Morgase was trained as a novice in the White Tower, any time she spent in the Mistress of Novices’ study is highly unlikely to have been spent in “quiet talks”. Elayne would know that, but Gaebril/Rahvin would not, so it could have been a subconscious attempt on Morgase’s part to alert Elayne that something was wrong.
However, since Morgase was only trained in the Tower for political reasons, and since everyone knew she was (a) never going to be Aes Sedai and (b) the future queen of Andor and thus Kind Of A Big Deal, it’s possible that her training was not nearly as rigorous as a “real” novice’s would be. So maybe she did hang out with Sheriam in her study and chat, for all we know.
So, dunno. But I greatly prefer the former possibility, as an early and nicely subtle flag to the reader that something is seriously awry with Morgase, so we’ll go with that, shall we?
Also, I have no idea why I wasn’t sure in the original commentary whether I realized Gaebril was a Forsaken or not on first reading, when it is screamingly obvious that he was one, even if I wouldn’t have known which one yet. I mean, if the “Great Lord” line Mat overheard wasn’t enough to clue me in alone, I would be amazed.
Chapter 47: To Race the Shadow
Redux Commentary
“You must have heard something, man. Who is Sheriam? Does talking to her in her study mean anything?”
Mat shook his head vigorously to keep relief from showing on his face. “I don’t know who she is,” he said truthfully. Perhaps he had heard Egwene, or perhaps Nynaeve, mention the name. An Aes Sedai, maybe? “Why should it mean anything?”
“I do not know,” Tallanvor said softly. “There is too much I do not know. Sometimes I think she is trying to say something…”
Ah, okay. So it was a coded cry for help. I forgot about this exchange until I just now reread it, but maybe I remembered it subliminally, or something. Go me!
I quite liked Tallanvor early on, what little we get to see of him, anyway. Too bad I became immediately annoyed with him once he became a more major character and basically stayed annoyed with him for, er, forever. But that’s a rant for another time.
“Stakes. Gaebril doesn’t know it, but he and I have a wager.” The cat jumped down as Mat picked up the wooden dice cup and spun the dice out on the table. Five sixes. “And I always win.”
I loved loved loved Mat’s “bet” with Gaebril. Not least because I instantly connected it with Perrin’s wolf dream vision of him dicing with the Dark One. So symbolism. Very symmetry. Wow.
(Would it have been more symmetrical/symbolic to have the dice turn up the Dark One’s eyes instead of Yahtzee, I wonder? I can’t decide.)
“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.”
Yeah, I still instantly dislike this bit of glibbery. I won’t rehash what I said about it in the original commentary, but everything I said there still stands.
And so the fun climactical stuff begins—but not until next week! Have a lovely half a fortnight, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!
There’s no chance that Sheriam was Morgase’s Mistress of Novices, since Sheriam was still only Accepted at the Aiel War’s conclusion.
But honestly, Morgase studying at the Tower is a bit odd. Exactly when did she get the time to do so? Before or after her Succession? Did she really leave Taringail in charge for a few months?
The bit where Mat runs into Tallanvor has one of the all time best lines in WoT:
“That bloody garden wall again. It should be built three times so high.”
*snort* Poor Tallanvor.
Nobody knew Morgase would be a Queen when she studied in Tat Valon. That was before Tigraine disappeared and her mother died. Which begs the question why did she spent 2 years even though she could barely channel…
On one of the rereads I started wondering how the hell was Comar supposed to kill there powerful channellers who were traveling together. I know it’s just a plot device to get Mat to Tear, but it bugs me.
@3 Oh, that makes sense.
>how the hell was Comar supposed to kill there powerful channellers who were traveling together.
There’s lots of ways, as long as he doesn’t walk right up to them and demand a duel.
Arrows from windows, knives in the dark, poison in the meals…
The Supergirls never really ever admitted that bodyguards were occasionally a good idea.
Why does Mat dream of being made a lord? Later he doesn’t want to be a noble.
Considering all the meddling by the White Tower in Andor with Tigraine and Luc at the time, it is no surprise that they dug their claws into the (presumably-IIRC there is no mention of her having siblings or other competition for the title) daughter-heir of House Trakand by keeping her around despite her practically non-existent channeling ability.
@3 The Wonder Girls are taken down by non-channelers just a couple chapters earlier. They’d be dead if the guys weren’t trying to sell them. It’s easy as long as it’s ambush.
I believe Morgase studied in Tar Valon before the Aiel War and before she took the throne in the succession (war) that followed the previous Queen’s death and Daughter Heir’s disappearance (Rand’s birth mother). She was there because it was a tradition in Andor for all the powerful houses to send their daughter-heir (or whatever the term is for the house, rather than kingdom) to study in Tar Valon, whether she could channel or not. This is part of the ‘connection’ that Andor has with Tar Valon, and one that the AS, not known for letting a political opportunity slip by, would be keen to keep up and nurture; even if the girl was not from the family that currently held the throne.
That being said, I was never sure if Morgase mentioning Sheriam as her Mistress of Novices was a gaff on RJ’s part, or part of a secret “Help Me, Something Is WRONG” message she might be trying to send. We are still early enough in the books where RJ may not have had everything worked out regarding Morgase’s time in the White Tower, or perhaps had worked out but forgotten about until latter when the story went in that direction.
Or, you know, maybe she just had long talks with fellow novice (or more likely Accepted) Sheriam in the MON study for some reason :)
As for Mat, yes, the fun, lovable, happy go lucky rogue comes into his own in this book. Just when Rand starts getting a little too remote and neurotic and Perrin gets a little too emo (either Faile emo or wolf-brother emo), the narrative provides a new ‘Superboy’ to cheer for. I wonder if RJ planned it that way, because Mat was quite the waste of space the first couple of books.
Apropos of nothing, the rearing lion chapter icon is one of my favorite icons.
I cannot decide if I like it better when Mat fully understands the randomness of his luck (for example in the Tower of Ghenjei) or if like in this scene where he does not grasp how random his luck is (meeting Tallanvor as opposed to any other guard; overhearing Rahvin talk to Comar). I guess if I had to chose, I would choose the former.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewHB
I am not a city person at all, so Caemlyn might be fun to visit, but that’s about it :)
I never realized that Sheriam wouldn’t yet have been Mistress of Novices, but would we have known that at this point in the books? But at any rate perhaps it’s just another part of the code (or maybe she’s just using Sheriam because that’s who Elayne knows as the Mistress of Novices and would know quiet talks are not what go on in her study).
One nitpick: _Any_ five-of-a-kind is a Yahtzee, not just five sixes, so the Dark One’s Eyes is also a Yahtzee.
“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.”
I first read this line when I was 10 or 11, when I was waking up from kid to teenager. Unfortunately this was when I was very impressionable, and I believe it was a hard truth far longer than I should have. Another great line from this book, though I forget where.
If you want the fun of the jig, you have to pay the harper sooner or later.
At least that one was a little more useful.
Good lurrrrrd that “never forget/forgive” line annoyed me. Like… what does that even mean?? Seriously, nuts and bolts what does that mean? Like, you wrong someone and if he’s a man, ten years down the line he’ll say, “Yeah, I don’t know why, but for some reason I just want to deliver this fist right to your suckhole. Get out of my face.” Or if she’s a woman she’ll say, “Sure I’ll help, but don’t forget that one time you did that one thing. That was really shitty.”
Seriously what does that even mean?
The way Mat describes the holes in his memories–pieces missing here and there, a memory of one building clear but none of the ones around it–puts me in mind of both the way people speak of tornadoes and how random their destruction often seems, and of how fungus can eat holes in things. The randomness can probably be ascribed to the Pattern, but the fungus-rot bit really puts Mashadar and the evil of Shadar Logoth in perspective, doesn’t it? Leigh speaking of Fain’s touch as being like mold you can’t scrub out is a very apropos metaphor indeed.
I can’t really blame Mat for the way he reacted to Coline. Even aside from the fact it was yet another example of Rand being held up as a great lord (the thing he resented him for in TGH and for quite some time thereafter), but being thought of as Rand’s servant would be galling for just about anyone, especially someone who had grown up with him as a childhood friend. (He’s also right of course that she might well feel differently if she knew Rand was the Dragon Reborn. We never find out if her feelings change later, do we?)
The bit with the cat reacting to the dice rolls is interesting, since we know that cats are drawn to Aes Sedai but are afraid of Asha’man. Obviously Mat can’t channel (though his sister can), but the symbolic implication made here is either that the cat is reacting to the Dark One’s eyes, or that Mat’s luck, tied as it is to the Pattern, is also something a cat would dislike. Ironic, considering how long Mat refuses to have anything to do with Rand or the Power.
I also agree Caemlyn is probably the city that most makes me want to visit/live there. I can’t recall how Chachin was described in NS, and Maradon was never physically described much that I recall. Tar Valon would be close second, followed by Illian.
Ah, the power of ta’veren at work, once more on the ta’veren himself–Mat is forced to hide right where he can overhear a very critical conversation, thanks to the guards patrolling nearby. (Not to mention running into Tallanvor instead of some other guard.) Of course he has no idea Gaebril is a Forsaken–at this point he doesn’t know “Great Lord” is how the Forsaken address the Dark One, in fact I don’t know if he ever learns that–but he certainly knows the man means harm to Elayne. And just like that, into hero mode he goes. (Though the fact it also puts Nynaeve and Egwene in danger obviously plays into his actions too.)
LOL at both Tallanvor complaining about the wall, and telling Mat to get the flower out of his hair.
I love how Rahvin’s posturing about staying silent until the queen gives him leave to speak kept Mat from revealing his own plot in front of him; if Rahvin hadn’t spoken up, he could have easily made some false promise of looking into this Comar and doing away with him, then getting rid of Mat once they were out of Morgase’s earshot. Instead, his plans will now unravel. Ta’veren strikes again! Of course Mat being able to tell bald-faced lies to Rahvin, and be believed, is all on Mat’s own cleverness and charisma, two other things Rahvin can’t match. :P
While it’s very obvious Morgase’s reference to Sheriam’s study was a coded cry for help from beneath the Compulsion (mostly because Elayne would know “quiet talks” didn’t happen there but also because implying she was enduring similar punishments would have brought Elayne running), I wonder if this line too was meant to have more meaning: “A young man who has left his small village often finds it difficult to return to it. I think you will travel far before you see Comfrey again.” Rather sounds to me like she’s thinking of Rand.
Side note: the mention of Sheriam, as others have stated, has to be because Morgase knew only that name would have meaning to Elayne. If she’d named whoever was Mistress of Novices when she was in the Tower (Merean?) it would have been useless. (Unless of course Merean’s mysterious “disappearance” could have implied her predicament even better. But I doubt Merean’s fate would have been something either Morgase or Elayne would have heard about, especially since it was likely chalked up to more of the Vileness and thus kept hushed up.) Regardless, it’s ironic she would use Sheriam’s name in this fashion, considering Sheriam turns out to be Black!
As for whether Morgase would actually have been punished like other novices, the Tower doesn’t care about titles and nobility, and even if they had known she was going to be queen of Andor (at the time, Mordrellen was still alive and Tigraine was the Daughter-Heir), their desire to have influence with her would not have changed how they treated her. In fact they’d be even more likely to give her the same treatment, to “humble” her, so she’d be more pliable to their wishes. And anyway, Elayne certainly got the same punishments as the other girls, and she actually was the Daughter-Heir.
I think the only way we could have guessed Gaebril’s identity at this point is if we had remembered, or gone back to look at, the description of the men Ishy was arguing with in TAR and seen one of them matched him, but even then we still wouldn’t have known his name.
Tallanvor may get annoying later (though in his defense, it’s only in response to the way Morgase treats him), but I agree he’s very likable here. The fact he makes it clear he’s loyal to Morgase and not Gaebril is enough to show us he’s a good guy, even if Mat is cynical about it.
While we know the real reason Rahvin wants to get rid of Elayne is to keep Be’lal from using her against him, we also see later that after Morgase disappears, he’s quite happy to take over as king, so I’m sure at some point he would have used Elayne in the way Mat was thinking, and gotten rid of Morgase when he no longer needed her. Also I’m not sure why Gill is so dismissive of the idea of a man ruling Andor when not that long ago Taringail tried to do the same thing; but it may be that his plans were not known or ever revealed to the general public, and it was just Thom secretly ferreting out his intentions that led to him murdering Taringail. Though them being friends and all, I am surprised Thom didn’t tell Gill what was going on.
Somebody once theorized that Gaebril may have a Finder on the coins he gave Mat, to see if he really went where he said he did. Considering those coins likely stayed with Gill until he helped Morgase escape, and when they did they went west, Rahvin would have been fooled into thinking Mat’s story was true. Either way, he had no way of knowing Mat had gone to Tear, which is the important part. Some have also mentioned the coins being “cursed” in a sense since a Forsaken may have put weaves on them–something absolutely borne out by everything that happens to Morgase after she escapes–but considering the ultimate result is her being there to help Faile escape Malden, make peace with Galad and oversee Perrin’s trial, and eventually get everything between him and Elayne resolved peacefully, it seems more as if once again the Pattern took something that could have been only ill and wove good fortune into it as well.
It’s also interesting that this “bet” fulfills what Perrin saw about Mat in the wolf dream, since other things he sees there don’t get fulfilled until much later in the series. I guess Jordan wanted to save some for later, but also wanted to reveal things right now? And to be fair, with luck being the thing Mat’s character will revolve around, it’s pretty critical that that vision get explained first. And the things which don’t come true until later are still very important (Mat getting the spear from the Foxes, Egwene being made Amyrlin, Rand when he’s going through his crisis that could either save or destroy the world), so maybe Perrin got a preview of them so early because of that.
@5 birgit: I am guessing he was more interested in the purse (i.e. wealth) that would come with the title for revealing a plot against Elayne than he was the title itself. (Or maybe Lanfear did get to him a bit, with her talk of glory?)
@3 Bergmaniac, @@.-@ LordNarvi, @7 PalladianFire: Exactly. At this point the girls are still untrained enough that physical assaults and assassins can still be a credible threat. Another reason (besides keeping them from being used by Be’lal) to get rid of them now, before they can become strong enough to evade all but channelers, which Rahvin doesn’t really have any of among his followers save the young Red he has under Compulsion.
@8 gadget: See my thoughts above for why Morgase would have mentioned Sheriam and not whoever was Mistress of Novices before her. Though it is possible Jordan hadn’t worked out yet when she was Accepted and when she became MoN; in the very first book we have Moiraine randomly telling Gill to contact Sheriam if he needs help, suggesting at that point he hadn’t decided she was MoN yet. Then again it may have been because they were friends as Accepted.
Also, I believe Morgase was simply the High Seat of her house; if her parents were still alive when she went to the Tower, I don’t think she had a title, just “Lady.” And this would be true for the other houses.
@9 AndrewHB: It’s a toss-up, no pun intended; when he knows how it works and can use it to his advantage, that’s pretty badass, but having him not understand and just receiving lucky breaks without realizing why they happened is also rather cool, in a “destiny is helping the hero and he doesn’t even know it but I do” sort of way.
I also love that icon. On a related note, I’ve always wanted to see an artist’s rendering of the Lion Throne.
@10 Lisamarie: My thoughts exactly.
@13 juanito: The way you described it is pretty much what that phrase is intended to mean, I think. Which just proves how ridiculous it is. (Though it does seem more likely to me that men would forget specific offenses but remember the grudge they carry against the ones who offended them, but that could just be more cultural conditioning on my part. :/ )