LORD OF CHAOS

By Linda

The Golden Stag is where Mat stayed in Maerone (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). The stag is the sigil of Galldrian Riatin (recently deceased) so the inn name may refer to the Cairhien monarchy.

Gold is a symbol of perfection, purity, power, glory and wealth. The stag represents sovereignty, virility and the wild (John and Caitlin Matthews, Element Encyclopaedia of Magical Creatures ). Perhaps the inn’s name refers to Mat’s destiny.

The River Gate was the best inn in Maerone, but Mat closed it because the innkeeper let his soldiers get drunk (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). The inn’s name refers to travel.

The Fox and Goose, Maerone, had a gleeman juggling flaming batons when Mat visited (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). Fox and Geese is a real-world board game similar to the game of Foxes and Snakes (see Foxes and Snakes article), which is associated with Mat the Fox. Interestingly, the gleeman juggling fire represents three of the four elements needed to win against the Eelfinn and Aelfinn: fire, music and courage.

The goose symbolises vigilance and love, and the fox, wildness and cunning.

The Three Towers, Maerone (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). Three is a very positive number and represents harmony and completeness. Cairhien is noted for its tall towers. Three castles were the arms of the masons' guild in London so the inn name could also be a Masonic reference.

The Erinin Inn, Maerone (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). The name describes the inn’s location on the River Erinin.

The Silver Horn, Maerone (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). Silver represents purity, hope and wisdom, and the horn is a symbol of strength, power and fertility. The name reminded Mat of the Horn of Valere.

The Wagoner’s Whip, Maerone (Lord of Chaos, A Different Dance). The inn’s name refers to a local occupation.

Culain’s Hound in Caemlyn is a stone building three storeys high with a red tile roof. Alanna bonded Rand there (Lord of Chaos, A Saying in the Borderlands). Culain was a general that Artur Hawkwing defeated to take Aldeshar (formerly Andor).

The inn’s name refers to Cuchulainn, the Hound of Culann, a hero in Irish mythology who was almost unbeatable in battle due to his blood-thirsty spear and his battle frenzy.

The Long Man in Cairhien was Egwene’s and Gawyn’s trysting place (Lord of Chaos, Like Lightning and Rain). The name refers to the Long Man of Wilmington, a 226 foot high figure of a man holding two rods cut into the steep side of Windover Hill in East Sussex, England.

The Ball and Hoop in Caemlyn was where Zaida din Parede Blackwing and her retinue took rooms in Lord of Chaos, Connecting Lines. The ball and hoop were popular medieval toys. On another level, the ball (sphere) is a power emblem of rulers, and the hoop (circle) represents wholeness, and harmony with one's self and the wider community or nation (Jack Tressider, Symbols and their Meanings) and it is thus appropriate that the Sea Folk ambassador stayed at this inn.

The Oak and Thorn, Amador (Lord of Chaos, Red Wax). The oak symbolises nobility, endurance, male fertility and wisdom, and the thorn pain, strong defences or an obstacle.

The Golden Head, Amador (Lord of Chaos, Red Wax). Gold represents perfection, purity, truth, power, glory and wealth, and the head represents power.

The Marella Inn in Altara is named after its location (Lord of Chaos, Journey to Salidar).

The Ionin Spring Inn in Altara is also named after its location (Lord of Chaos, Journey to Salidar).

The Miner’s Rest in Baerlon was a rough place where Min worked as a waitress (Lord of Chaos, A Threat). The innkeeper aims to attract business from the miners.

The Crown of Roses is the finest inn in the New City in Caemlyn and has three storeys of white stone and a common room panelled with dark wood (Lord of Chaos, A Threat). The name refers to the Andoran monarchy and the Rose Crown.

The crown is a symbol of glory, royalty, fidelity and regeneration and the rose is a symbol of love and the sun and dawn. Min abandoned the rebel embassy out of love for Rand, the Lord of the Morning. More than half of the Salidar embassy ended up swearing fealty to Rand.

The Marriage Knife, Altara, was where Elayne’s and Nynaeve’s group stayed on their way to Ebou Dar (Lord of Chaos, The Wandering Woman). Birgitte was revealed to the group to be Elaynes’ Warder and Vandene and Adeleas were unimpressed. The inn’s name refers to the Altaran capital, since the marriage dagger is only worn in Ebou Dar.

The Southern Hoop, is a humble inn of white-plastered bricks two storeys high in So Tehar where Elayne’s and Nynaeve’s group stayed on their way to Ebou Dar (Lord of Chaos, The Wandering Woman). The hoop or circle represents wholeness, and harmony with one's self and the community. Harmony and standing within the group were an issue. At this inn Vandene and Adeleas experimented on Mat and determined that his ter’angreal did not protect him from being affected by indirect weaves of the Power. Elayne and Nynaeve tried to assume the command to which they were entitled under Aes Sedai rules, but had little success.

The Wandering Woman in Ebou Dar was Setalle Anan’s inn and was probably named by her, since after she lost her ability to channel, she was a friendless wanderer until her future husband found her (Knife of Dreams, A Short Path). The inn’s sign is of a woman with a walking staff peering hopefully into the distance (Lord of Chaos, The Wandering Woman).


------------------------

Written by Linda, June 2007