Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Part 10 of Costume in the Wheel of Time



By Linda

It is the turn of the Asha'man uniform to be added to the WOT Costume article. This is timely considering that two conventions are being held this weekend, at which the Asha'man uniform will be a popular choice of costume. Asha'man coats are in the Andoran (which means late 18th century to early 19th century) style but are black, a colour with associations to the Shadow.

The section includes advice on the proper wearing of the Asha'man pins. Some of the Aiel name themselves 'spears of the Dragon,' so I guess the pins show that the Asha'man are the 'swords of the Dragon'.

5 comments:

Jeffrey R. Daniel said...

Since you noted variations on the Asha'man's uniforms, you might want to mention that Logain started wearing "A round pin fastened to his left shoulder showed three golden crowns against blue enamel(chapter 22 of Knife of Dreams)" as a new trend of putting his sigil on the shoulder of his coat.

Also you might want to specify the perspectives of the placement of the pins. You are stating that the Sword is on the left, and the Dragon on the right. But do you mean from the perspective (point of view) of the wearer (the person in the coat) or from the perspective of the viewer? These POV's are reversed. Right to the wearer is left to the viewer and vice versa.

The part about the the sword being cupped upward is correct but the reason it is cupped upward, as with all items of luck (like a horse shoe), is that it is placed that way (according to Wilson) "as if to gather rain water." Water is key to survival and is considered lucky to a solider.

Linda said...

Jeffrey: I think that is a one-off to inform us of Logain's title. I doubt anyone else will follow it.

As in all the costumes in this article, the POV is from the point of view of the costume not an observer. The left sleeve of a garment is that which goes on the left arm. It doesn't vary according to who is talking about it.

Anonymous said...

Do we know which direction the pins are pointing? Is the dragon looking towards the throat or away? Is the tip of the sword pointed towards the throat or away from it?

Hinkel said...

Towards the throat or "attacking" the neck - I think that's in the article.

Linda said...

You are correct on both counts Hinkel.