Saturday, May 30, 2009

The Great Hunt Read-Through #9 - Fain Fails in Falme



Fain Fails in Falme

by Linda

In Falme, Mordeth/Fain says he always did well where men were tense and afraid. Mordeth laughs at Turak’s hawk banner and thinks he knows its significance. How does he know? Hawkwing was 1000 years after Shadar Logoth. Did Mordeth understand all the Dark One’s plans from Fain? Or has he kept ‘up to date’ somehow, despite being stuck in Shadar Logoth?

The Seanchan notice that Fain is not afraid of Seanchan beasts and are surprised. Fain thinks they are nothing compared to Shadowspawn.

Fain leaves his Trollocs on Toman Head. Are these the ones who later attack Rand and co in The Dragon Reborn?

Fain doesn’t care about the Horn; it is a means to an end, the end being the Seanchan conquering the mainland and Fain gaining a position of influence with them. He thinks the damane are not of use to him now, but might be later - that would probably be when the Seanchan invade, especially for eliminating the White Tower.

Fain is too impatient, too clumsy, in this interview. He is used to being allowed to speak as he wants (this links in with Fain being a dark court Fool, see Fool and Joker article). Seanchan protocol is against him and he refuses to adapt to it. Fain is impatient because he thinks Rand and co are only a day or two behind him. He doesn’t know the Black Wind stopped them following even though he supposedly set it to guard the Waygate and catch them. Rand and co’s late arrival means the novelty and veracity of Fain and his tale have long worn off.

Fain is convinced he can get the Seanchan to kill Rand:

Fain let the grimacing Huan pull him out of the room, hardly even listening to the snarled lecture on what would happen if he ever again failed to leave Lord Turak's presence when given permission to do so. He barely noticed when he was pushed into the street with a coin and instructions to return on the morrow. Rand al'Thor was his, now. I will see him dead at last. And then the world will pay for what was done to me.

The Great Hunt, The Wheel Weaves
Fain didn't do that well, so maybe men weren't as tense and afraid as he thought.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wondered how did Fain managed to keep his group of Trollocs and DF hidden during this time. With so many Seanchan soldiers around, they can't be hidden for four months.

Dominic said...

The Seanchan weren't patrolling much in that area.

They 'pacificied' Toman Head, made people swear the Oaths and then left them to their own devices.

Fain had left the Trollocs and DF back at a camp well hidden in the unhabited hills above Falme, near an abandonned stedding. And there probably weren't many DF left there for long, without Fain's protection... For all we know, his camp might have been found by the Seanchan or the DFs and Trollocs scattered when Fain didn't return for some time: Fain doesn't seem to have an entourage anymore until he gained another in the Two Rivers, ie: WC and a Fade he captured.

Perrin and co. met no Seanchan patrol on Toman Head, and even Bornhald was able to move his army all the way over Toman Head to Falme, encountering few Seanchan and only small patrols not expecting resistance that he could defeat with ease. Villages and towns on TH are all in the western part of the peninsula.

The Forerunners were essentially concerned with securing the coast and controlling the sea. The conquest as such was to begin only with the arrival of the Return.

Linda said...

I'm sure Fain lost his Trollocs after the battle at Falme. He could hardly have still had them when he went to the Fortress of the Light, which was his next stop.