Merry 2015, y’all! I usher in the new year with a sincere wish for everyone to please not freeze to death, because holy crap, and also with a new Wheel of Time Reread Redux!
Today’s Redux post will cover Chapter 25 and 26 of The Eye of the World, 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 now available as an ebook series, except for the portion covering A Memory of Light, which should become available soon.
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!
Chapter 25: The Traveling People
Redux Commentary
I’ve said this before in various ways, but I don’t think I will ever get the sheer extremity of Perrin’s wiggination over being able to talk to wolves. Not that I don’t think some amount of wigging isn’t valid, because sure, that would definitely be hella freaky and weird on multiple levels, not least in that it implies a lot more about the nature of Perrin himself than it does anything else. But even so, there’s no way I wouldn’t be simultaneously at least a little excited at the notion of being able to talk to wolves.
Because—because you’re talking to frickin’ wolves, man. How can you not find that at least a tiny bit cool?
Probably all this actually proves, though, is that if I were a character in a SFF/horror story, I would probably be the one who gets all inappropriately excited about things that much more appropriately freak out all the other characters, thus garnering me, the hypothetical inappropriately excited character, a variable number of (hilariously) incredulous looks from the rest of the cast.
But that’s okay. Those characters are usually my favorite ones, anyway. If such be my fate to be one, than so shall it be.
Perrin, then, is very emphatically not one of those characters, which meant I spent most of the series both enthralled at the coolness of his superpower and annoyed at him for not enjoying it as much as I was. Which is, objectively, pretty unreasonable of me, I freely admit, since I probably don’t really have the right to tell people, even fictional people, how much or how little they are allowed to freak out about things. To each their own level of neurosis, I always say. Or, well, actually I’ve never said that, but I’m saying it now, okay? Jeez.
So, fine, Perrin gets to be as obtuse and squirrelly about his really frickin’ cool wolf-whispering abilities as he wants. Fine. Doesn’t mean I won’t stop being irritated about it, though. So There.
Although (“And Another Thing!” she says), you’d think the whole part where Perrin realized that his Magical Mystical Lupine Connection was incidentally keeping Big Scary Evil Flame Guy out of his dreams would make him a tad more enthusiastic about the situation. But, I guess some people just have to look a gift psychic link to apex predators in the mouth. Pfeh.
(Also, “Magical Mystical Lupine Connection” is totally the name of my next retro-hippie psychedelic rock band. Just FYI.)
I also had some passing musings here about how (and why) the whole wolf-whispering thing started at this particular moment in the first place. Because obviously Perrin’s never wolf-whispered before this juncture, and yet judging from what Rand and other Duopotamians said earlier, having to deal with wolves occasionally making off with their livestock and such was a fairly common occurrence in Emond’s Field and thereabouts, especially lately. Ergo, it’s not like Perrin’s never been in the general vicinity of wolves before. So why did his ability never manifest before now?
The snarky answer, of course, is “because this is when the plot needed it to happen,” but if I’m going to not go there, then I suppose that maybe it is just that he was probably never as this up close and personal with wolves before. I can’t think of any other reason, so that’ll have to do.
Moving on!
“What if somebody attacks you?” Perrin insisted. “What if somebody hits you, or tries to rob you, or kill you?”
Raen sighed, a patient sigh, as if Perrin was just not seeing what was so clear to him. “If a man hit me, I would ask him why he wanted to do such a thing. If he still wanted to hit me, I would run away, as I would if he wanted to rob or kill me. Much better that I let him take what he wanted, even my life, than that I should do violence. And I would hope that he was not harmed too greatly.”
[…] “I don’t mean to offend you, Seeker,” Perrin said slowly, “but… Well, I don’t look for violence. I don’t think I’ve even wrestled anybody in years, except for feastday games. But if somebody hit me, I’d hit him back. If I didn’t, I would just be encouraging him to think he could hit me whenever he wanted to. Some people think they can take advantage of others, and if you don’t let them know they can’t, they’ll just go around bullying anybody weaker than they are.”
Ah, the eternal debate. I have semi-fond (okay, semi-irritated. Or both. Irrifond?) memories of going twelve rounds over this question with a self-declared pacifist back in the Usenet day.
The problem, I think, is that it’s a circular argument. Because yes, obviously it would be awesome if everyone embraced the Way of the Leaf and there was no more violence and we all danced and sang and wore horribly clashing color combinations forevermore, kumbaya, amen. Duh. But the problem is that you can never trust that resolution to hold on a universal level. Someone, somewhere, is always going to decide it’s easier to knock someone down and take their stuff rather than earning stuff of their own, and maybe it just points to the inherent violence in my soul or whatever, but I am simply not capable of viewing that as merely a cost of business rather than a wrong to be defended against—violently, if no other way will suffice.
And yes, it’s a cycle, and yes, it perpetuates itself, and yes, violence begets violence; the pacifists are absolutely right about that. I’m just not sure it’s a merry-go-round that it’s possible to actually get off of. You know?
“What was that about a song?” Egwene asked.
“That’s why they travel,” Elyas said, “or so they say. They’re looking for a song. That’s what the Mahdi seeks. They say they lost it during the Breaking of the World, and if they can find it again, the paradise of the Age of Legends will return.” He ran his eye around the camp and snorted. “They don’t even know what the song is; they claim they’ll know it when they find it. They don’t know how it’s supposed to bring paradise, either, but they’ve been looking near to three thousand years, ever since the Breaking. I expect they’ll be looking until the Wheel stops turning.”
So, so much sadder when you know that the “song” they’re looking for is something they’re just not going to find, ever. I was looking over the old WOTFAQ recently and the section on the Aiel had a quote from Aaron Bergman, ex-rasfwrjian, that summed it up: “I think one of the themes buried in these novels is that the past is dead. You can’t hope to regain the past. Rand can’t go back to the Two Rivers and become a shepherd. The Age of Legends is dead, it will not return for a very long time; certainly not in the next (Fourth) Age. The Tuatha’an are seeking to regain the past. The ’Song’ is a remnant of the past. Thus, the Song will not be found. There is no Song that will recreate the Age of Legends, for it is past.”
I suppose there’s a debate that could be had, then, whether the Tinkers’ quest, fruitless as we know it to be, was a good thing or a bad thing. On the one hand, logically knowing the truth is better than not knowing it. But on the other, we later see exactly what happens to the other offshoot of the Da’Shain (i.e. the much more stabby Aiel) when their entire raison d’être is yanked out from under them by The Truth, so maybe sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Or not. DISCUSS.
“As for the girl, she would not let anyone touch her, even to tend her wounds. But she seized the Seeker of that band by his coat, and this is what she said, word for word. ‘Leafblighter means to blind the Eye of the World, Lost One. He means to slay the Great Serpent. Warn the People, Lost One. Sightburner comes. Tell them to stand ready for He Who Comes With the Dawn. Tell them…’ And then she died.”
Still sort of curious how exactly these Maidens got this information. Did they interrogate a Trolloc? Overhear some Fades gossiping? Accidentally get put on the Darkfriends’ “Armageddon How To” weekly group email list? Inquiring Minds Wish To Know!
Chapter 26: Whitebridge
Redux Commentary
Generally speaking, I like all the chapter icons used in WOT, but I think the harp icon in particular is one of my favorites. Something about how the stylized lines of it make it look like the harp itself is leaping and dancing to music. That’s just neat.
And over it all the White Bridge towered and shone.
“It looks like glass,” Rand said to no one in particular.
Captain Domon paused behind him and tucked his thumbs behind his broad belt. “Nay, lad. Whatever it be, it no be glass. Never so hard the rains come, it no be slippery, and the best chisel and the strongest arm no make a mark on it.”
That must be awful nice. Civil engineering was apparently way less stressful a profession in the Age of Legends. Forget worrying about things like wind shear or structural integrity or erosion or whatever; just design it to be super pretty, and then throw some Aes Sedai at your completely impractical structural flight of fancy to get it all cuendillarized up, and voilà.
(I mean, I’m assuming it’s cuendillar. I can’t remember if we ever got told in so many words that it was, but whatever; even if it isn’t, it’s something so close as to make no relevant difference.)
Aes Sedai work. One thing to hear about it, another to see it, and touch it. You know that, don’t you? For an instant it seemed to Rand that a shadow rippled through the milk-white structure.
Another really nicely subtle foreshadowing of Rand’s ongoing One Power Acquisition Syndrome.
“All in black he is. Keeps the hood of his cloak pulled up so you can’t see his face, but you can feel him looking at you, feel it like an icicle shoved into your spine. He… he spoke to me.” [Bartim] flinched and stopped to chew at his lip before going on. “Sounded like a snake crawling through dead leaves. Fair turned my stomach to ice. Every time as he comes back, he asks the same questions. Same questions the crazy man asked. Nobody ever sees him coming — he’s just there all of a sudden, day or night, freezing you where you stand.”
I’d forgotten about this detail, and now it seems a little weird to me that a Fade could actually pass as human enough to only freak people out. But then, maybe my perspective is warped by being so long at the other end of the story, by which time pretty much everyone alive knows exactly how to recognize a Fade. The incredible naïveté of just about everyone in TEOTW still knocks me for a loop sometimes.
Thom crashed into the Myrddraal before the black blade was half drawn, and both went down in a thrashing heap. The few people still in the square fled.
“RUN!” The air in the square flashed an eye-searing blue, and Thom began to scream, but even in the middle of the scream he managed a word. “RUN!”
Aw, Thom.
There was a bit of controversy over this passage back in the day, as I recall. Way back in the mists of the 1990s, Jordan had told former FAQueen Pam Korda (in response to a letter, no less, which strikes me as incredibly adorable and quaint now) that when a Fadeblade strikes Power-wrought metal, the reaction produces blue sparks. Which was puzzling, since this scene therefore implied that Thom’s daggers were Power-wrought, which seemed… odd.
When asked about this scene specifically later, Jordan said that the effect was not from Thom’s daggers, but produced “before Thom reached the Fade”, which… is not really possible, going from the wording of the text above. However, considering he said that after publishing the ninth book or thereabouts, I’m not really going to ding him for not remembering precisely how this one little passage from a decade earlier went. So maybe it was a gaffe to put in the bit about the blue flash, but it certainly seems like Jordan never intended to imply that Thom had special Power-wrought daggers.
The other thing people used to argue about regarding this scene was how exactly Thom actually survived the fight, since, well, he just freakin’ bum-rushed a Fade. A Fade wielding a Thakandar-wrought blade, to boot—wounds from which, we are later told, tend to kill their victims even when not fatal, unless capital-H Healing is applied. And yet Thom walked away from it with nothing more than a tricky knee, as he tells Moiraine later.
*shrug* I guess you don’t always have to be ta’veren to have insane amounts of luck, eh?
And that’s all for the nonce, folks! I hope everyone had as lovely a holiday season as I did, and I hope this helped ease alla y’all back into the January grind, too! See you next Tuesday!
I too had wondered about the blue flash when Thom attacked the Fade but given the size of the series, I guess you can’t really blame RJ for not remembering every little thing. Although it is remotely possible that Thom did indeed have at least one power-wrought blade. Thom does say much later that the Fade was only interested in Rand and Mat so he just kind of tossed Thom aside without bothering to stick him with his Thakandar blade.
I agree that talking to wolves (or any animals) would be awesome, though of course it would freak me out at first.
Pacifism is a dream within a dream…no substance.
The thing to keep in mind regarding Perrin’s wolf powers not emerging yet is that he’s a blacksmith’s apprentice.
He’s not like the average Emond’s Field farmer; he’s lived in the village proper most of his life, where the wolves would largely avoid. If you assume (as is generally the nature of such things, even in the WOT universe) that the powers wouldn’t emerge until adolescence (and in Perrin’s case, the close presence of wolves), it makes a certain degree of sense that he hasn’t really encountered wolves all that closely since reaching adolescence. As an apprentice, he’s largely lived with the Luhhans at the smithy in town.
Sam – I thought “mawridge” was the “dweam within a dweam,” right Buttercup?
Happy New Year, Leigh. Stay warm. It’s certainly chilly up here in New England.
Re the chapters
– not sure I’d be that excited about talking to wolves in my head. I have enough issues talking to my spouse and kids using my mouth rather than mind to mind.
-And, yes, the Fade lost interest in Thom before he got stabbed. Lucky Thom.
– Maybe the blue sparks were gas….Who knows what Fades eat after all.
I am not a strict pacifist by any means, but I think the flaw in Perrin’s logic is that, by hitting back, he hasn’t really disabused the first hitter of the notion that they can go around taking things from people weaker than them. All they’ve done is basically exerted THEIR authority becuase of THEIR superior strength.
As I said, I’m certainly not arguing for complete pacifism or against the idea of using force to prevent others from hurting others. Just that it’s not quite so simple as Perrin makes it out either. And sometimes I think there are situations where it is better to ‘suffer evil instead of doing evil’. (Again, not a blanket condemnation of the use of force).
On the blue sparks, could it be that Thom is secretly a weak channeler? The ability does run in the family, and look at his nephew.
You know Dude, Robert Jordan himself dabbled with pacifism once. Not in ‘Nam, of course.
@5, Perrin’s logic is better than yours. You assume that fighting back is only effective if the person doing so is stronger. But they don’t have to be. They just have to be able to cause enough pain to dissuade the person attempting to do the taking. And that really doesn’t take a lot.
Ability to talk to wolves sounds like pretty cool thing and it also bothered me why Perrin doesn’t seem to be excited about it. But if I really think about it, how would it feel having telepathic conversations with wild animals, it would definitely freak me out. I mean, telepathy – however cool – is freaky: it’s very personal, intimate, to share thoughts, and even sharing them with other people would be scary, let alone wolfs.
The Song: didn’t Rand (or Lews Therin) know it? Isn’t it possible he could’ve shared it with some Tinkers post-AMOL? At least I hope he would – the possibility that they would never found it makes me too sad.
The Maiden’s message: I’ve also wondered how she got it. Now I’m totally voting for “Accidentally get put on the Darkfriends’ “Armageddon How To” weekly group email list!” :)
RE: The Way of the Leaf
What often gets overlooked, or dismissed, or just plain ignored in this discussion is Raen’s contention that violence does as much harm to the aggressor as the victim. If we take that argument at face value, then the Way of the Leaf is a logical belief system.
I don’t personally believe that all violence harms both parties, and I also believe that there might be circumstances in which, even if it did, any harm that comes to me, personally, will be worth the price.
But that doesn’t make the Way of the Leaf illogical, it just makes it a value judgement, like many other things. What is important to us?
I took the lateness of Perrin’s wolf powers similarly to how Aes Sedai come into their powers: some are born with the spark while some can be taught.
@8:
I don’t think that’s an accurate assesment of what @5 was saying. Its not about being physically stronger, its about asserting power over the individual. Violence is not always physical. In Perrin’s case, that power would come through physical strength, but for the Aes Sedai, it comes through other means. For a martial artist, they could assert their power over someone through skill, regardless of strength, in many cases.
Yes, exactly!
Did we ever learn if there is more than one type of cuendillar (black, white, etc.)?
Perhaps Perrin’s proximity to Elyas helped trigger emergence of his wolf powers.
Talking to wolves (Perrin): cool;
Talking to horse (Hettar in David Eddings’ Belegariad): cool;
Talking to snakes (Harry Potter & Lord Voldermort): cool;
Talking to all animals (Dr. Doolittle); somewhat cool; and
Talking to fish (Aquaman); not cool
Once again, Aquaman gets the short straw.
Also, is it possible that the blue spark was a trick of the entertainment trade that Thom used to distract the Fade?
Thanks for reading my musings,
AndrewB
Thank you for an especially enjoyable post.
I too would be the character who enthuses over freaky things, especially those involving wildlife. (In my dreams, anyway; I’d probably be too scared in actuality. Then again, I don’t mind living with nine tarantulas). Consequently, I now fervently share your desire to know how the Maidens learned of the Dark One’s return. Bah. Like most things Shadowspawn-related, it’s left up to my capable imagination.
The pacifism debate is depressing indeed, both in and out of the book. Mind you, “would you hit back” becomes a less relevant way to frame it when your enemy is likely to kill you with the first strike. E.g. Trolloc or Black Ajah vs. average human.
I’m puzzled by the reference to George R. R. Martin in the original reread post, nearly two years before the ROIAF began. Had you already heard of his penchant for killing protagonists?
“That must be awful nice. Civil engineering was apparently way less stressful a profession in the Age of Legends. Forget worrying about things like wind shear or structural integrity or erosion or whatever; just design it to be super pretty, and then throw some Aes Sedai at your completely impractical structural flight of fancy to get it all cuendillarized up, and voilà.”
Ha! Reminds me of Steelheart, where the narrator talks about how they can build a building out of any old thing and Steelheart just metallifies it into a solid structure.
Talking to animals – it would be cool if they could talk intelligently. But from what I recall in the first book, talking to wolves was like talking to toddlers and who wants that?
I thought that Whitebridge (the actual “glass like” bridge — not the town) was the site of where one of the male Aes Sedai destroyed a city during the Breaking. In Rand’s journey through the Way Back Machine (when Rand’s ancestor goes into the Hall of Servants), one of the Aes Sedai remarks that there was a male Aes Sedai who destroyed an entire city leaving nothing but a glassy surface. I always associated that act with Whitebridge.
Thanks for reading my musings.
AndrewB
The Ogier know the song, werent they singing it during the last battle
On the pacifism debate. It always reminds me of the Kenny Rogers song Coward of the County, the lyrics of which I reproduce below. I’m curious about how a committed pacifist in Tommy’s situation should and would have acted. Lisamarie, I’ll appreciate your thoughts.
—————————————————-
Kenny Rogers – Coward Of The County
Everyone considered him the coward of the county
He’d never stood one single time to prove the county wrong.
His mama named him Tommy, but folks just called him yellow,
Something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong.
He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison;
I took care of Tommy, ’cause he was my brother’s son.
I still recall the final words my brother said to Tommy,
“Son my life is over, but yours has just begun”.
[Chorus]
“Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done
Walk away from trouble if you can.
It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek.
I hope you’re old enough to understand,
Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man.”
There’s someone for everyone, and Tommy’s love was Becky.
In her arms he didn’t have to prove he was a man.
One day while he was working, the Gatlin boys came calling
They took turns at Becky, n’there was three of them.
Tommy opened up the door, and saw Becky crying.
The torn dress, the shattered look was more than he could stand.
He reached above the fireplace, and took down his daddy’s picture.
As the tears fell on his daddy’s face, he heard these words again:
[Chorus]
“Promise me, son, not to do the things I’ve done
Walk away from trouble if you can.
It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn the other cheek.
I hope you’re old enough to understand,
Son, you don’t have to fight to be a man.”
The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the barroom; One of them got up and met him half way cross the floor.
When Tommy turned around they said, “Hey look! old yeller’s leaving,” But you could’ve heard a pin drop when Tommy stopped and locked the door.
Twenty years of crawling bottled up inside him.
He wasn’t holding nothing back — he let ’em have it all.
When Tommy left the bar room, not a Gatlin boy was standing.
He said, “This one’s for Becky, as he watched the last one fall.
(And I heard him say,)
“I promised you, Dad, not to do the things you’ve done
I walk away from trouble when I can
Now please don’t think I’m weak, I didn’t turn the other cheek,
And papa, I should hope you understand
Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man”.
Everyone considered him the coward of the county.
One reason Perrin doesn’t like having magic powers is that in his world men who use magic go mad. Even if his powers aren’t that kind, the association still exists in people’s minds.
Perrin’s discussion of the Way of the Leaf probably influenced Kaladin’s question if he can protect by killing.
The Song: didn’t Rand (or Lews Therin) know it?
The idea of the Song is based on the songs Rand knows, but the legend of what the Song is changed so much that the Tinkers would not be content with the original songs. It is an example of RJ’s theme about how stories change with time.
Ishy somehow gave the Maidens the information to lure Rand to the Eye, just as he gave it to Jain (and probably some other people Rand never hears about).
This scene has always bothered me too. I’ve always kind of chalked both the blue flashes and Thom’s survival as some sort of Gleeman flashbangery, but no where else in the story does anything quite like that happen. There could be an argument maybe that Rand did something unknowingly, but that seems dubious at best since we’re here in Rand’s head and there is no indication he is One Powering. I.. really just don’t know. RJ nodded, and thus we move on.
Regarding the blue flashes, could it be that when they fell to the floor the blade hit the bridge? I do not remember exactly where the fight happens but I think it was near that.
I like to think I’d find it exciting if I could suddenly talk to wolves, but then that is because it would mean that wonderful magical possibilities had been revealed in my so far completely mundane world. For Perrin, whilst it did at first surprise me that it took him so long to get over it, it’s completely understandable that he is not thrilled by the development:
– He’s been brought up to believe that magical things, especially when they involve men, are bad, scary, dangerous things.
– He was happy with his nice little life in the Two Rivers and then all of a sudden there’s fire and death and monsters and he’s dragged away from it all. But he harbours the hope that it will all be easily solved and he can go back home, where it will be like nothing ever changed, safe and comforting and lovely. But then the wolf business starts up, and that’s a change in him, one that can’t be undone, one that will always be there, so he can never go back to things being like they were before, and he doesn’t want to accept that.
This refusal to acknowledge change also features in his dislike of the whole lord business. And, as we well know, he will not come to terms with these things until way down the line – take, for example, his conversation with Faile in Towers of Midnight about returning to the Two Rivers, where she has to point out to him that his home has changed irrevocably with the outside world coming in, something he should have realised during his book 5 honeymoon.
– Talking to wolves means acknowledging aspects of himself that Perrin is not comfortable with. All the way through the books, he wrestles with his growing influence and power and with his violent desires and prowess, unable to reconcile these things to his usually quiet and thoughtful nature and his longing to just be a blacksmith, please. He is shocked/ashamed/concerned about these newfound aspects of himself and it takes him a long time to realise that it’s okay.
His whole wolf thing just complements this – he sees them as scary, violent, wild things, and that is the side of himself he is desperately trying to ignore. So having wolves in his head would not make him happy. Take that same ToM conversation with Faile, where she tells him there’s much of the wolf in him. (Also, this long-denied wild side of himself is, in my view, why he and Faile are attracted to each other.)
AndrewHB @18 – I’d forgotten until you said it, but that’s what I thought about Whitebridge too. Cuendillar hadn’t occurred to me.
I’ve never much dwelled on Thom’s fight with the Myddraal, since from very moment he ran off to attack, I knew with certainty he wouldn’t really die. So I just never paid it a lot of attention. I like the idea the blue flashes could be a gleeman trick.
I’ve also never dwelled on why Perrin’s wolf talking started when it did – I always just assumed it was because he’d never had the opportunity before. It doesn’t seem like the wolves go out of their way to contact people like Perrin.
And as for where the Maidens got their information, could it be possible they had an encounter with the weird red veiled channelling male Aiel that I’ve never really understood?
I also have a whole thing about Perrin and pacifism, but I must return to work and save it for later.
Very well concealed infodump in the Perrin chapter. When you think about it, there is no reason for either Elyas or Raen to rehash all their arguments. OK, Perrin and Egwene are new, but if you read the text, the arguments are not aimed at them all the time, also at each other, which seems a little bit construed. However, like I said, very well concealed, because it doesn’t read like that, so I only got this feeling this time around, on my fifth re-read of TEOTW.
First mention of ‘the People’! No ‘of the Dragon’ attached yet, unfortunately… It’s nice that Perrin later remembers ‘He Who Comes With The Dawn’ when it gets mentioned again (by Rhuarc?) on the road to Tear.
About the Song: Funny that Raen muses about the fact that the Aiel might have the Song, when in fact they do: it’s the Song of Growing that Rand hears in the Ancestatron. I’m not sure whether the Ogier Song of Growing is the same, and whether that’s still around. Did they sing it in AMOL? Didn’t Elder Laman say something about Growers being extinct? Aargh, my memory is too fuzzy. Must be the cold here in upstate NY…
Whitebridge. Is the bridge made of cuendillar? Is the White Tower made of cuendillar? Not everything constructed with the Power is heartstone, right? I mean, yes, the bridge has the qualities, but is cuendillar also never slippery?
I think that on first reading, I thought Thom was very much a goner, and was very surprised when he turned up again. I bought his explanation on the Fade losing interest, although I think I did suspect him of being a Darkfriend for a time after that.
Lisamarie @5
It’s sad of course, that hitting back only shows the one that hit first that YOU have power over them. But it’s not as sad as the fact that some people really only understand that kind of language. And if communicating to them in that language i.e. hitting back is what keeps them in line, then by all means I’m all for it.
On the maiden’s message… I’m no longer clear on how common it is for the Aiel to refer to the Tinker as the Lost One. Of course we know, as do the chiefs and Wise Ones, that the Tinkers are the descendants of Aiel who chose to maintain the Way of the Leaf, at the cost of abandoning their duty to the Aes Sedai. I’m less certain on how common this knowledge is among the rank and file Aiel.
On the Song:
Maybe the first Tinkers wanted to go back to singing the Song, that grew plants and in particular the Tree of Life and its aura of peace. This is a pipe dream though because that also requires Ogier and Nym. So in a sense, Leigh’s friend is right in that in seeking the Song, they are seeking a past that can no longer be returned. Particularly once the last of the Nym dies at the end of the novel.
Ogier of course have retained the ability to Sing. Loial in particular is noted to be a particularly gifted Treesinger. And they’re certainly long lived, with a good emphasis on education and record-keeping to boot. So maybe they still know the particular song used to grow chora trees. Who really knows?
Ways @13: I know there was a theory that female-made cuendillar is white and male-made cuendillar is black. I don’t remember if there was any evidence contrary to that mentioned during the discussion.
Re: Fades not being recognized
Remember that in the Borderlands there’s a law that no one can wear a hood, exactly so Fades can’t infiltrate into their cities. If the Borderlanders can’t recognize Fades without seeing the eyes (I mean not seeing the eyes, I mean seeing the not eyes… oh, you know what I mean), then how can you expect Andorans to?
On the Song:
Is the Song even really a thing? Back in the Age of Legends, was there ever ‘a Song’? I may be completely forgetting vital details here, but I’m inclined to think there wasn’t. Our trip back in TSR shows the Da’shain Aiel and Ogier doing their special singing, but I got the impression that there were multiple types of songs, and they sing different ones on different occasions – like, for different plants and different seasons. But over the great period of time that has passed, the Travelling People have forgotten the details and searching for ‘the Song’ just encompasses searching for everything they have lost. After all, they’ve forgotten they were ever Aiel. They could well have forgotten exactly what it is that they’ve forgotten. If that makes sense…
I reckon that when they search for the Song, they’re really searching for all the songs, and for all that the songs meant, and for the whole culture that was forced to an end. Not one specific Song.
I think Leigh raises an interesting question about whether or not their search is a good thing. Part of me agrees that clinging so desperately to the past is not a healthy thing and they should look forwards instead and appreciate what they have now. But another part of me agrees that taking away someone’s meaning is also not healthy. And then a third part of me chimes in with my belief that the past should be preserved and appreciated. As an archivist, the thought of all records of everything ever being destroyed fills me with horror, and I shiver at the thought of there being absolutely nothing to say that something ever existed. I believe that the past shouldn’t be lived in/for, but it should be known and understood, or at least there if you’re interested, because it all forms part of who we are today. So it definitely makes me very, very sad that the Tuatha’an will never find what they’re looking for or understand where they come from. (I’ve just read the Mistborn trilogy and, wow, a Feruchemist would be really handy.)
On the pacifism:
I think it’s all tied in with Perrin trying to reconcile the two sides of himself, wild and gentle (see my above rambling). The gentle side is really drawn to the Way of the Leaf, but the wild side acknowledges the need for a bit of violence. And there definitely is a need – idealistically, of course, we would all solve everything by talking it out and never physically hurt anyone, but I think Leigh describes it excellently as a merry-go-round we can’t get off. If Perrin chose at this point to go with his gentle side and follow the Way of the Leaf, that would have really bad consequences. The Last Battle is looming and his fighting skills are vital. But he still hopes that one day, he won’t need to fight. But he does what is needed. I like to think that post-AMoL, he settles himself down and never has to lift a weapon again…
And I think it’s interesting to look at the role the Tuatha’an played in the Last Battle. They didn’t fight, but they fulfilled an equally vital role by tending to the wounded. Everybody brings something different to the table, and they did what was needed too.
Alisonwonderland @@@@@ 20 – I heard that song on the radio a few months ago (not for the first time, but the first time since reading the books), and Perrin was what immediately came to mind as I listened. I love the song; it’s great the way it turns it around. I especially like that it says “You don’t have to fight to be a man” but then “Sometimes you have to fight when you’re a man” – so it’s not like he chooses to do a complete turn around, he just realises an extra bit. You don’t have to and it’s generally best not to, but that doesn’t mean you mustn’t ever. I think that is something Perrin understands by the end of the series.
This makes something else occur to me – perhaps this hard-gained understanding of the balance between his two halves and that there are times when and when not to use violence is why Perrin is able to kill Lanfear when he has to, overcoming the old ‘never hurt a woman, even if she’s totally evil and bent on destroying the world’ adage, because he knows that sometimes it’s got to be done.
@28. Sian17
Except they stop looking when the world starts going wonky and head for Seanchan territory, unless they think it can be found in Ebou Dar. Probably they all just like rolling around, like nomads, but with a pacifist bent. In any case, I think in standard fantasy they might have found the song, but that’s like David Eddings and such. There was a lot of that in The Wheel of Time, but more that just passed through without acquiring the tropes that have come to dominate what we think of as standard fantasy.
Yes, they ended up stepping up and helping at the Last Battle, but as various characters pointed out during the last couple of books, there was kind of no escaping it. I don’t know what was going on with the food in Seanchan land because Rand wasn’t walking around there twisting fate back to the natural order to allow for decent food again.
Regarding the blue flashes, could it be that when they fell to the floor the blade hit the bridge?
The fight was not on the bridge.
Borderlanders probably would know when they are talking to a Fade, but many Andorans don’t believe in Myrddraal. The law helps to recognize Fades at a distance (it is more difficult to see that the hooded person down the street is a Fade than to notice that you are afraid when talking to it).
On Thom surviving:
Apparently Thakandar blades do not always kill. In the AMOL prologue, Talmanes reflects that the Borderlanders report Thakandar-inflicted wounds are unpredictable as opposed to universally fatal. Sometimes they simply make you sick or get infected really quickly. Only a wound that turns black immediately after being inflicted will require One Power intervention.
So it seems Thom lucked out and got a festering wound instead of a turn-black-and-die wound.
birgit @@@@@ 30 – Thanks! That’s good to know.
So… you would be Egwene? :)
Re: Thom’s knives
In Shadar Logoth, Thom tosses a knife at a trolloc, and complains about losing it. I believe I read somewhere (probably in the FAQ, or in encyclopedia-wot) that in early editions the text read “My best knives”, but in later editions it was amended to ‘My second-best knives”. This change was made to account for his still having power-wrought knives at Whitebridge.
That seems a bit of a retcon, though. The blue flash was probably one of those many TEOTW artifacts – put in for dramatic effect before the rules were firmly established in RJ’s head, and rationalized in later books.
anthonypero @10
My first thought on Raen’s explanation of how the axe is dulled (at least on this reread) was, “Not if it is power-wrought.”
bookworm1398 @17
I wouldn’t say like talking to toddlers. The wolves are quite intelligent. However, they do not think in language (like we do); they think in images, sounds, feelings and other non-verbal ways. So yes, it is more difficult communicating. But communication with someone who speaks another language takes learning also. As the books progress Perrin does get better at talking to them.
Bouke @25
I do not think that the White Tower is cuendillar, since they do dismantle part of the harbor using the power and lots of labor, when they are trying to remove the chain that Egwene converted to cuendillar. I believe we are told that the power can be used to strengthen and bond stone when we are told about the Stone. And I believe that technique was also used on the Tower.
Where are all these vegetables coming from? We have been told harvests are non-existent, so finding wild edibles should be difficult. These Tinkers appear to be shunning much contact with villages. And in any case, when harvests are short, villages have less to trade, and are more likely to hoard what they have.
Sorry, I am a little late to the game here, especially in addressing 20’s thoughts.
First off, I do want to clarify, I am not a committed pacifist. Acutally, lately I’ve found myself turning to that, but as more of a personal decision, not one I think should be imposed on everybody. Also, it would probably only to extend to myself, as if I were ever in a situation where I needed to defend my children or anybody dependent on me, I would. In all honesty, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve needed to use violence or defend myself, so this is a moot point. And in fact, I’d probably make a crummy one, as I struggle with it even with my toddler.
The interesting thing to me about the song is that, in some ways, the violence came too late. It didn’t protect his wife, it just punished those responsible. I am actually not sure I would want my husband to have to do such a thing for me to get closure (others could have a totally different reaction to that). Now, that said, there’s also the factors of protecting other future victims – perhaps we can assume this guys are not going to rehabilitate or end up in prison – and then of course the message it sends about such things not being tolerated in society (does anybody know if it’s determined one way or the other if such things actually do deter future offenders?).
But I think Sian words it all beautifully regarding the balance between ‘don’t have to fight’ and sometimes you ‘should fight’.
For me, I can buy the logic behind The Way of the Leaf–violence doesn’t really “teach” anything, and it harms the violent one in ways that are difficult to quantify–but there are cases where the price is worth paying.
Being able to judge when to pay and when not to–in anything, not just this subject–is part of becoming an adult in western society. I believe its a large part of why Raen, and the Tinkers in general, come across so naive and childlike.
We find out a bit about the Aiel in these chapters. It’s interesting that Perrin – despite living in a world where it’s perfectly normal for women to be rulers and sources of wisdom – is nevertheless taken aback by the thought of them fighting.
Why do the Tinkers travel through the Aiel waste? They clearly cannot trade with the Aiel.
Thom: I think it’s notable that Mat is jumping to conclusions here; ‘He’s dead. You saw. You heard.’ But of course they did not see or hear Thom die. I even looked back to see if I had missed something, but no. In cases like this one should always be suspicious.
Another interesting thing about Thom is his distrust of Aes Sedai; it’s now clear, as it wasn’t earlier, that his intentions were not at one with Moiraine’s, but he actually joined the party to protect the boys from her. Is it ever made clear, by the way, what he was doing in Emond’s field in the first place? Was it just a coincidence that he turned up at the same time as Moiriane and Lan, not to mention the Trollocs? Of course, a gleeman might turn up anywhere, but the ex-lover of the Queen of Andor being there is more surprising.
The Village Council contacted Thom to perform at Beltine.
I dunno, I can see why Perrin wasn’t really excited about talking to wolves. It would be like waking up and discovering you could do magic … in Salem, Massachussets in the 1700s. What Perrin is doing is basically like black magic and witchcraft in medieval times. At this point in the story he’s a village boy who wants a simple village life as a blacksmith, but he probably knows full well that people who are “different” in such an inexplicable way are likely to find themselves run put of town at best, and swinging from a rope at worst. It would be hard to be excited about that.
How did the Emond’s Fielders book a gleeman and order fireworks if nobody leaves the Two Rivers?
Padan Fain, and other peddlers, carry letters out of the Two Rivers. One assumes that word of mouth from a peddler said Thom was worth having, and that peddler arranged it.
JonathanLevy @33
Believe I heard about the knife-ranking change somewhere too. However, my 1st and 5th US printings both read “My best knives.” It must have been changed after the 5th. The passage I’m referencing is just before our boys board Domon’s boat, a bit after their Shadar Logoth departure. Yeah, it seems like a retcon, but I vote we give RJ a pass on it.
AnotherAndrew @37
IIRC, the Tinkers were travelling across the Waste to trade with the Sharans.
birgit @40
I think is this case leaves means permanently, not temporarily. Edit – But AP may have the right of it.
They could probably send a letter with a peddler, but there doesn’t seem to be a gleeman agency where you can book someone for your local festival. Thom is wandering around a lot. How could anyone send a letter specifically to him? Or did they tell a peddler to ask the first gleeman he meets to come to their village?
Ways @42
Found the link at Encyclopedia WoT:
http://encyclopaedia-wot.org/main/errata.html
It says at the top of the page that the corrections are being made for the ebook versions, so that might be why your 5th edition has the original text.
On the “best” knives, it could be that when Thom says that, he could be referring to the fact that those are the best he has at throwing. The balance is just perfect for his needs. Even if the knives he uses against the Myrdraal are power wrought, who is to say that someone hasn’t put on a handle that makes them harder to throw, juggle etc…? he very well could have used his “best” knives against the trollocs. best is a very subjective word……
@43: I would guess that Gleemen and peddlers travel together all the time. I would guess that a peddler knew Thom and how to get a hold of him directly (probably through his people in Cairhien)
So why did his ability never manifest before now?
The snarky answer, of course, is “because this is when the plot needed it to happen,” but if I’m going to not go there,…
My ta’veren, let me show you it.
Another really nicely subtle foreshadowing of Rand’s ongoing One Power Acquisition Syndrome.
Isn’t that the bridge reacting to the Fade crossing it? That’s how I read it, anyway. Discuss.
re: Thom’s surprising still alive-liness
Maybe Thom was just so inconsequential to the Fade that it opted for the quickest, easiest way to get rid of him which just so happened to be a vicious kick in the hip sending him flying across the street or something like that. So Thom would be incapacitated, but alive and unpoisoned.
As to why the Fade didn’t immediately catch up to the boys if it dealt with Thom so quickly: If Thom knocked away its hood with his tackle, that would be enough to send the throng into a panic that would force the Fade to either cut its way through a couple hundred people or just pull ye olde shadow vanishing act until things died down. Both of those options would result in enough of a delay for the boys to get away.
I commented before, at length, about Perrin and his issues with being a wolfbrother, so I don’t feel the need to go into it again–he’s angsting a lot, but I think it’s justified (if not how long it went on) even if I too think talking to wolves would be cool. As to why he’s not happy about the wolves considering they help keep Ba’alzamon away, I’d guess it’s because at this point he’s still not sure the wolves are good. So it could be a case of trading one evil for another–or even that the wolves could secretly be another sending of Ba’alzamon’s. Considering the Darkhounds they meet later, the possibility isn’t that farfetched. And as to why Perrin became a wolfbrother now: aside from agreeing that he had not actually been around wolves in the Two Rivers (so this is his first time being so close), I am pretty sure it was meeting Elyas that did it. In fact I recall that after Perrin and Egwene are rescued from the Whitecloaks, Lan asks if there was a guide or intermediary, and Perrin mentions Elyas. So it seems the idea of having to meet another wolfbrother to have the talent awakened in you is known elsewhere.
Anyway, I’ll move on to other things of note. (Magical Mystical Lupine Connection–great name for a hippie rock band indeed!)
The Tinkers and the Way of the Leaf… *sigh* Don’t really feel like getting into the conflict (hah) regarding whether violence can ever be justified or if pacifism can ever truly be universal. Other than to say I sadly think Leigh is right. The fact Jordan made it a point to suggest there were flaws and cracks, dark undercurrents and hidden darkness in the Age of Legends to undermine the utopia, well before the Bore was drilled (and that all such impulses which lead to wickedness would not exist if not for the Dark One anyway) tells me he agrees too. Maybe someday it can be otherwise, but for now, violence will always be with us. And while it’s true deterrents don’t always work (or rarely do?), I have to agree with Perrin that there are times there’s no other choice, nothing you can do but defend yourself and show others why they can’t get away with their selfish violence.
I should also mention that side from Aram being a prick from the get-go, this is probably where I disliked Egwene the most in TEotW, other than when they first left the Two Rivers and she started in on Rand. Because not only is she trying to make Perrin jealous (!) with Aram, and beginning the first of many of her parade of cultures she tries on to fit in and learn new ways (before the way of the Aes Sedai has even truly been attempted in earnest), but she completely ignores and dismisses here what Perrin had said when he explained how, why, and when he would use violence. Instead of understanding his nuance that he rarely if ever uses it and in fact does his best never to hurt others, and that what he was discussing was a special case of using force to inspire obedience and better behavior, she brushes it off as just him “thinking with his muscles”. Comparing this to the violent things she does with the Power later…yeah, how’s your breakfast of
championshypocrisy tasting, Egwene?Of course I can’t rag on her for long, since it turns out by the end of the chapter that at least a big part of why she was acting out like she was wasn’t just trying to enjoy herself/experience the world, but distract herself from her worries and fears about the others’ chances of survival.
It is sad about the Song, but I like to think that while they can never truly reclaim it, the Tuatha’an will eventually at least learn something about the Age of Legends seed-singing via Rand whenever he comes back from his world tour. And that between them and the Ogier, there can be a recovery of life and beauty in the land. It may not be the same, but it is still a bright future, and one that partakes of the same goals as the Song. Either way, I don’t think they’d react to the truth as badly as the Aiel did, since while seeking the Song is their big Thing, finding out it’s lost beyond recovery is not as traumatizing as finding out your whole culture had completely betrayed what you once stood for. In fact I can easily see the Way of the Leaf inspiring them to shrug philosophically, say “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills”, and move on to seeking something else in life. Particularly if, again, they have what Rand and the Ogier can offer them to turn to.
What makes me most curious about the story about the Maidens is what Elyas picks up on, Trollocs being so far out in the Waste. We learn in TSR that indeed it is rare for Shadowspawn to be there–the only reason the parties encountered in that book are there is because Lanfear and/or Asmodean brought them. So how and why were these ones here now? Even if the Trollocs (or Fades among them) did know of the Eye and that’s how the Aiel learned of it, what were they doing there? It’s not like anyone in the Waste knew about the Eye, and I don’t think Ishamael could have been planning anything this early about the Aiel because he knew they were Rand/Lews Therin’s people. Could it be this was the first hint at the Samma N’Sei? That they had been with the Trollocs, had been told about the plans for the Eye by Ishamael back in the Town, and the Tinkers didn’t know enough to recognize them among the other Aiel bodies? That could explain why the Maidens fought so hard (and so many died), and why they’d consider it important to pass this message on.
I also have to wonder if something about this message is connected to the later bit with the Tinker wagons Mat found in LOC, with “Tell the Dragon Reborn…” written on the side. But that is way too long after, when the message would no longer have any meaning. I still haven’t figured out what else it could be–maybe it had something to do with Demandred, since he was active in that book and could have sent the Shadowspawn? Or Sammael?–but we can discuss it when we get there.
I like the harp icon too, though the fact it’s associated with Thom helps.
I never thought about the White Bridge being cuendillar, but it makes sense. We’ve never seen balefire used on it to know for sure, nor do we hear anything about it crumbling when the Pattern is weakening in the last couple books, but then it wasn’t under the direct touch of the Dark One the way the seals were, so it’s inconclusive. Still, it would explain it still being around and untouched after so long. Nice foreshadowing (literally!) on the bit with the dark ripple…I never made the connection before between that and what Rand thought at the time. Of course it can’t be more unconscious channeling by Rand nor the bridge reacting to him, but it works in a nice symbolic way.
I’d forgotten the Hunt for the Horn was being called this early. More foreshadowing of the Horn appearing at the Eye, of course. I do remember, though, being pretty sure the crazy guy looking for them was Fain, because the description reminded me enough of him (and how he was acting back in Baerlon). I don’t think I’d quite cottoned on to him being a Darkfriend though, and the weird split personality he’s already exhibiting here didn’t yet reveal anything about Mordeth or Shadar Logoth.
The Fade…while it is true how quaint it seems to have one wander around and be undetected here at the start of the series, it should also be remembered (as is pointed out right in the conversation the inn guests are having with Gelb) that those in the southern lands haven’t seen Shadowspawn in a long time and many actively believe they don’t exist any more if they ever did. So it isn’t surprising one could move about undetected now–they probably don’t even remember all the signs you’re supposed to look for that are automatic in the Borderlands. What does pique my curiosity is the fact the Fade knows about Thom. The only times he was seen with the group were: at Taren Ferry; possibly while they were on their way to Shadar Logoth; and during the flight from it afterward. (The proto-Shaidar Haran in Baerlon only saw Rand and Lan.) This suggests a Shadowspawn in one of those places lived to report back to Ba’alzamon, though whether it was that same Fade or a different one who then showed up in Whitebridge, who knows.
Goes without saying that Moiraine will at some point tell Thom what she promised about the Reds and Owyn. Not that it really matters–if any of the Reds involved were those at the Black Tower, they got Turned and most likely killed, and we all know what happened to Elaida.
The bit with Thom’s knives…yeah, Jordan must have misremembered. Because even apart from the description discrepancy, Fades can’t use the True Power (except Shaidar Haran, maybe) so there’s nothing that could create the flash except their weapons meeting. Which just means Thom’s knives were indeed One Power-wrought, however he came by them, which explains why the ones he lost before had to be changed to be called “second-best knives.” As if we needed any more proof of his badassery, him not being the Fade’s true target notwithstanding to explain his survival.
@9 Tessuna: Good point re: Perrin and the wolves.
@10 anthonypero: Well said.
@14 AndrewHB: A trick of the gleeman’s trade…now that I didn’t think of. Also, interesting thought @18…
@24 Sian17: Beautiful analysis of Perrin vis-a-vis the wolves and his lordening. Also, nice to see I wasn’t the only one to think of the Samma N’Sei!
@25 Bouke: The infodump just makes me curious–we see Elyas and Raen arguing, as they must have done many times before, but we never really learn how or why two such different people would be friends. Even before he became a wolfbrother, Warder Elyas would not have been a Tinker type. Did they meet in Saldaea, when the Tinkers were there for trade? Hmm…in any event, it sheds more light on their characters that they, who see the world so differently, could still be friends. And how sad later that this friendship is strained, since to some degree Raen and Ila blame him as much as Perrin for what happens to Aram.
It was Urien who told Perrin of He Who Comes With the Dawn, in TGH on the way to Cairhien with Verin and Ingtar. The Supergirls met Aviendha and her Maidens on the way to Tear, and they also mentioned He Who Comes With the Dawn.
Irony indeed, about the Aiel and the Song… Yes, some Ogier did sing during the Last Battle, it made the enemies’ weapons grow. As for Thom, the fact the Fade was looking for him too kind of proves he isn’t a Darkfriend. At least I thought so.
@26 alreadymad: They may know to call Tinkers Lost Ones without really knowing why, it’s just a custom they picked up from the Wise Ones and chieftains who do know the history.
@27 bad_platypus: I think that theory came from the Domination Band, since it was made of something black and unbreakable and nothing Nynaeve and Elayne tried would harm it. When Rand balefires Semirhage and Elza in TGS, it remains behind, implying it was cuendillar–although he was able to shatter the collar with the True Power, we also know the Dark One’s touch was able to weaken and crumble the cuendillar seals (which are themselves half white and half black), so…
@28 Sian17: I too think Perrin never had to fight again after Tarmon Gai’don (although “the world not done with battle”…). And I absolutely agree Perrin coming to his balance is how he was able to kill Lanfear.
@31 NoBrandHero: A very nice Author’s Saving Throw there!
@36 anthonypero: I am reminded of the later adage which Siuan, Moiraine, and Egwene (and then Elayne Min and Aviendha later) quote: “Take what you want and pay for it.” They didn’t have to do what they did, but once they decided those things had to be done for the good of the world (or their hearts), they did them, knowing the price they would pay.
@37 AnotherAndrew: Yup, suspicious dagger-tainted Mat is suspicious. As for Thom, Moiraine said it was the Pattern and I’m inclined to agree. “The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.”
@47 Randalator: Yay, the return of “X, Let Me Show You It!” And ooo, I never even thought of the Fade creating the shadow ripple. Numerous possibilities…
Re: the Fade, it’s mentioned later when Moiraine, Lan, and Nynaeve go through Whitebridge that a lot of people were injured and burned during the fighting, and a number of buildings were burned too. This could have been caused by the blue flashes (which makes me wonder how anything Thom has in his bag of tricks could have done that, unless it’s stronger than it seems, he had a lot of it, or the fires weren’t as serious as we thought), but the rest does imply the Fade had to cut through at least some people. Whether this was after immediately tossing Thom aside or after a longer struggle, who knows.
I always thought Perrin’s first wolf like moment happened back in Chp. 13. Choices, Him and Mat have a small argument about a farm that they are passing that is a little out of sight. Mat keeps insisting that it has to be different from back home and Perrin tells him that its the same.
Hi Leigh!
::waves::
Whoot! Whoot!
I scored the 5.0
Yay, me.
Erm. I completely agree with what AP was saying in several posts about violence. For me, what keeps me from smacking some folks around-that truly need it- is the criminal charges and the accompanying record. Back in Perrin’s day it is much like the wild west. On the whole rules are enforced but at an individual level a person does have to own the space they are in. Yield out of courtesy, defend by necessity.
The Song. I have a very strong feeling that the Jen Aiel were Rickrolled back in the day. They were Rickrolled to the point where history writers decided to scrub the records of such a terrible song.
Folks, mods etc. Has commenting changed so we can’t add links as text and such? Asking for a friend.
Woof™.
Speaking of changes, did we stop posting “wall of text” warnings, or is it a gimme with some? ?
Building. I don’t see the big deal. Women in the trades should be encouraged.
My wife keeps me around for just such occasions. I would cheer anyone on who could solve the problem of ” how long can we cantilever this beam?” by wiggling fingers and making it out of stuff where physics does not apply.
Question: what is the White Tower made of and who made it?
Woof™.
Apologies for being a few years late with a response. (Greetings from the year 2021!)
I think the white bridge at Whitebridge – heh – is very likely cuendillar. A few chapters later, when Nynaeve, Moiraine and Lan arrive there, Nynaeve notes that the sound of the horses’ hooves when they ride onto the bridge sound like “iron ringing on iron”. As we later find out, cuendillar is actually iron altered by the One Power. Pretty conclusive, I would suggest.
I also don’t think there’s a reason to assume this was the site of the city razed by one of the mad male Aes Sedai. Why would he take time to make a bridge of cuendillar? Yes, he was insane, but that seems like a very unlikely manifestation of insanity.