Happy New Year With Four Articles Updated

By Linda

Four articles were updated this week. Three feature Mat Cauthon:

The Fool and the Joker in The Wheel of Time

Redressing the Balance and the Boundaries; Wheel of Time Tricksters

and the very large

Mat essay of the Main Character Parallels series.

The fourth updated article is Character Ages.


New material is marked in bold.

I wish all readers a very happy and prosperous 2014!

Min Outfit 1

By Linda

Back in June, I blogged about the quarter scale costumes I made of Nynaeve's and Egwene's outfits that they wore when the girls went to Toman Head with Liandrin. Now it's time to look at Min:

Min had kept her breeches and baggy man's shirt under a boy's brown cloak and coat, with an old, wide-brimmed hat pulled down over her short hair. "One of us has to be the servant," she had said, laughing. "Women dressed the way you are always have at least one. You'll wish you had my breeches if we have to run." She was burdened with four sets of saddlebags bulging with warm clothes,for it would surely be winter before they returned.

The Great Hunt, Flight From the White Tower

Compared to the other girls, Min's outfit is quite a contrast. For one thing, it is a boy's outfit, at a time when clothing was markedly different between genders. Clothing also varied strongly according to social status. Min's clothing reflects her true social status, as a stable hand from a small remote town, but not her gender. Nynaeve's and Egwene's clothing reflects the status they will gain, but is currently above their station.


First up is Min's shift and shirt, which are made of linen, and her grey wool stockings. The fabric is thick rathern than fine or luxurious. The fit of Min's shirt is deliberately loose, as described in the text, and is laced closed.

Next, her wool breeches and brown leather boots. Min's breeches are closed with a drawstring. They are held up with a brown leather belt, which also holds her belt knife and pouch. She has another knife strapped to her forearm.

Over these she wears a brown wool coat with deep pockets and plain metal buttons. The coat is lined with green linen. On her head is a floppy brown hat.

Each girl had a hooded wool cloak for cold or wet weather. Min's was plain brown.

It was her task to carry the four saddlebags since she was masquerading as a servant. I made one to scale and filled it with clothing, as can be seen in the photo below. It is quite bulky; I think that Min would have struggled to carry four fully filled saddlebags.

Min's clothes are plain and strictly utilitarian; they have no decoration. On the other hand, they are reasonable quality and not the poorest sort.

Five Articles Updated

By Linda

Five articles were updated this week. Four are about the nations:

The Mainland Rulers

The Noble Houses of Andor

The Noble Houses of Cairhien

The Nobles of Tear

and the fifth is about A Memory of Light Inns.


New material is marked in bold. Other articles in the Nations series are:

The Age of Legends and

The Military Forces of the Westlands.

The complete series of articles on the Wheel of Time Inns are here.