The Shadow Rising Read through #14 - Perchance to Dream

Perchance to Dream

by Linda


Perrin is that rarest of creatures, a male dreamwalker. His experience of the dream is different in some aspects to that of Egwene and the Aiel Dreamwalkers, but then Talents usually manifest differently in males than in females.

Most of his prophetic dreams have occurred while he is in Tel’aran’rhiod: a window opens and he sees what is soon to happen. He is probably doing what the Wise Ones call ‘reading the dream’ in Te’aran’rhiod. He does not appear to see very far into the future. This is understandable, since the Wise Ones told Egwene that what is happening or about to happen is far easier to read in Tel’aran’rhiod than what may happen or what will happen in the medium to long term:

“The present is much clearer than the future even in Tel’aran’rhiod,” the sun-haired Wise One said. “What it happening or beginning is more easily seen than what will happen, or may. You must learn to find what you need to find and read what you see…”

- The Shadow Rising, Beyond the Stone

In many traditions, the ability to prophesy is often linked to sacrifice or chastity/virginity. Perrin’s family was killed by Fain and Perrin is in danger of losing his humanity at times. It is also telling that since he married Faile, he has seen no visions while in Tel’aran’rhiod. However in Crossroads of Twilight, after days of anguish over Faile’s capture, he had his first prophetic dream warning him of the imminence of the Last Hunt by which time he must take up the hammer, and the presence of Darkhounds near his camp.


An article detailing all Perrin's Wolf-Dreams with discussion of their possible meanings is now published on the Thirteenth Depository.

The Shadow Rising Read-through #13 - A Map of the Aiel Three-Fold Land

A Map of the Aiel Three-Fold Land

by Dominic

The Three-Fold Land is one of the more mysterious regions in the series. Technically, we are told it is unmapped territory - if the Aiel have mapped it or parts of it, none of these maps have ever made it into the hands of Westlands scholars and printers. Contrary to the assertion in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (written from the perspective of in-series scholars rather than from a neutral and all-knowing perspective) it is possible that such maps exist: at the battle of Cairhien the Aiel clan chiefs show familiarity with the planning of battles on maps. However, Cairhien was for them foreign territory - unknown territory to many (only four clans have taken part in the Aiel War), and it's not impossible they rely strictly on their intimate knowledge and memory of the terrain for battles and raids in the Waste.

In any case, we know the 'Wetlanders' themselves have no map of the Aiel Three-Fold Land they call 'The Waste' - which for most in the Westlands is Terra Incognita, like Shara and Seanchan. The mysteries surrounding the exact geography of the Waste is reflected in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, which has two rudimentary maps on which the Aiel Waste appear (the map of Shara and the world map) but on which no geographic feature described in the books is identified. In keeping with this theme, it's possible no precise map of the area is included in Harriet's Encyclopedia (Jordan reputedly wasn't in favour of including maps of the world, Shara and Seanchan in the Guide, it's his publisher who convinced him to allow them)

Through the events in the series (mostly in The Shadow Rising and The Fires of Heaven) we know of several locations in the Waste: Rhuidean in the valley below Chaendaer; Imre Stand - a very small watering hole on Taardad land; Cold Rocks Hold, the home of Rhuarc's sept in a canyon; Alcair Dal (from the O.T. Al'Cair Dal, ie: The Golden Bowl), a circular, bowl-like canyon ('not golden' at the time the characters visited it, but it may appear so at sunrise or sunset) at which meetings between clans are often held - perhaps because the great acoustic properties help keep the various participants at safe distance from each other - as well as the names of several sept holds. We are given precious few clues to locate any of them on a map, in most cases none at all.



The location we learn the most about (and the only one I took a guess at positioning on the map) is Rhuidean. We know Rhuidean is situated in the valley below the mountain Chaendaer. Chaendaer is not part of a chain, but the valley is surrounded by various jagged chains in the distance. The mountain is located West of the city- we know this, notably, from descriptions by Nynaeve and later Rand: from Chaendaer, the sun can be seen rising behind the city, over jagged peaks:

"Between one step and the next she was suddenly on a mountainside, with a harsh sun rising over more jagged mountains beyond the valley below, baking the dry air. The Waste. She was in the Waste." (The Shadow Rising, A cup of Wine - Nynaeve POV)

The way out of the valley and into the heart of the Waste is to the North West. The clan that live closest to Rhuidean is the Taardad. Imre Stand, a watering hole, is located less than a day's travel from Chaendaer - so perhaps up to 10 leagues, probably less - maybe much less (it's fairly tricky to evaluate the speed of travel in the Three-Fold Land, harder than to average travel on horses, from various clues that introduce variations in the distance they can cover each day: how many days in a row they travel, if they have plenty of rest and food, if they are on roads or cross-country etc.). Aiel are fast walkers, but they had peddlers wagons progressing on tricky terrain to account for etc. Cold Rocks Hold is located in the same direction from Rhuidean (North West), eleven days from Imre Stand. Alcair Dal is three to four days North from Cold Rocks Hold in high jagged mountains that can be seen over a day afar. Travel from Rhuidean to the Jangai Pass took thirteen to fourteen days, at fast speed. There are many more mountains and rock formations in the Waste - Rand often describes it as crisscrossed with sharp and rocky hills, broken rock formations and mountains; Aiel holds are often hidden in them. Those formations would trap winds and offer a bit more moisture, and water holes. The Aiel Waste is more similar to areas in Arizona, the Grand Canyon or parts of Tunisia than to the deep desert like the Sahara (that would be, presumably, more like the Termool area).

The location of Rhuidean on the map is thus very approximate - based on the length it took to travel (at pressing speed as they hunted after Couladin) from there to the town of Taien at the opening (on the Three-Fold Land side) of the Jangai Pass, and on the description of the area. The map of Aiel Waste in The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (one of the few not done by RJ's regular map artist Elisa Mitchell, but rather by John M. Ford) is however imprecise in its depiction of the mountain ranges and distances).

The lands of Tardaad lay closet to Rhuidean, to the North West. The Jindo sept of the Taardad lives beyond the Nine Valleys' land, and the lands of the Shaido clan are farther away in the same direction. Two septs of the Chareen, the White Mountain and the Jarra, are the closest enemies of the Taardad from Imre Stand. The Goshien lands are next, somewhat farther, enough to make Aviendha doubt they could have been responsible for the attack at Imre Stand. The Nakai's lands are the ones farthest away from this general area of Taardad lands, Alcair Dal and Rhuidean, though we don't know in which direction.

To the South, above the coast, is the Termool (probably old tongue, for 'The Waterless Sands') a totally desert area, so barren, desolate and dry even the Aiel do not travel it according to the Guide. They must travel very near, however (perhaps close to the Spine of the World), as we know they go South to Stedding Shangtai (home of Loial), located in the mountains above the Drowned Lands of the peninsula on which the city-state of Mayene stands. Beyond the Termool is the Sea of Storms. An archipelago of Sea Folk Isles lay at about equal distance from Mayene and Shara, several hundred leagues South - just above the equator line. It is one of the two (major) Sea Folk archipelagoes that have never been named anywhere.

To the South East is The Great Rift, atop of which begins the land most commonly called 'Shara' in the series (the various names are probably those of regions or provinces - or even cities - on this continent). To the North East is another mountain range, delimiting the border of the Three-Fold Land and Shara: the Cliffs of Dawns. To the North, the Aiel Waste is bordered by the Mountains of Dhoom and beyond them the Blight. The Waste is named by Shadowspawn Djevik K'Shar, The Dying Ground in the Trolloc tongue. To the West, of course, is the Spine of the World - mountains with no counterpart in the real world (Jordan once described them as how the Himalayas might be, if they were still only 3000 years old, not up to 50-70 millions years old). We know of at least two passes between the Aiel Waste and the mainland: the Niamh Passes at the South-West border of Shienar, and the Jangai Pass leading into Cairhien below the Kinslayer's Dagger mountain range and the river Gaelin. There remain two Cairhienin towns in the Jangai Pass, remnants from the period extending from 566 NE to 976 NE, during which the Cairhienin were granted by the Aiel a right of passage through the Waste to reach Shara, a way dubbed The Silk Path (the right was a gift to honour the memory of the Cairhienin's distant ancestors sharing their water with the Da'shain Aiel on their way to the Waste): Selean is located at the western end of the pass and Taien at the eastern end. Both towns are small, with few inhabitants and both suffered the ravages of Couladin's Shaido as his warriors took the Jangai Pass into Cairhien. Rand brought the refugees to the city of Cairhien with him, meaning those towns are now abandoned. The RPG book 'The Prophecies of the Dragon' had this bit of back story that House Mecandes' domains were in this area and their wealth based in the silk trade, before the House fell apart as a result of the Aiel War. Robert Jordan rejected this as erroneous: there is no such House in Cairhien, the blue sister Cabriana Mecandes was rather, as the name made obvious, Tairen.

The trajectory followed by the Silk Path is unknown, beyond it's beginning in the disused road that still leads from Cairhien to Selean, following the Gaelin. The most likely arrival point in Shara would be in the more accessible, lower area between the Cliffs of Dawn and the beginning of the Great Riff. Nowadays, only the Aiel themselves trade there, and only for their own needs. The Sea Folk take care of all trade between Shara and the Westlands.

About the Map:

The map is based on layouts for the 'Big Map' by Elisa Mitchell and the map of Shara by John M. Ford. The chronology information follows the priceless Wheel of Time chronology site, Steven Cooper's Tellings of the Wheel

The Shadow Rising Read through #12 - Forward and Back

Forward and Back

by Linda

In Rhuidean, Rand entered the glass columns ter’angreal and experienced important episodes of Aiel history: hundreds of years compressed into two chapters. (For more on the function of this ter’angreal see the Glass Columns ter’angreal article.) This is some of Jordan’s best writing: economical but engrossing and extremely informative vignettes showing from the onset of the Collapse to the founding of Rhuidean.

Rhuidean was built about 200 AB (after the Breaking), based on the family tree Jordan gives us as well as events mentioned. The Aes Sedai made the decision to build Tar Valon in 47 AB and commenced it in 98 AB (The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time) . From Rhodric, who was 20 when he heard of their decision to found Tar Valon, to Mandein, who at age 40 saw Rhuidean nearly complete, is four generations, or about 120 years. (Comran was Rhodric's grandson and Mandein was Comran's grandson.)

The Jenn Aiel searched long for Rhuidean and built it originally as a refuge for their people and culture, items of the power and the chora. They may also have believed the Dragon Reborn would be their descendant. However, the Jenn dwindled and died out, while the Aiel throve in the Waste. The symbolism is apt: the gentle and dedicated Jenn cannot exist long-term with evil touching the world and making it harsh and desolate. Their Covenant is too perfect for these times.

Only two Aes Sedai are left when Rhuidean is opened to Aiel, one of them very similar in appearance to Deindre and also able to Foretell, since she informs the Aiel that they will have a unifying chief in the future:

“That one will come later,” she said. “The stone that never falls will fall to announce his coming. Of the blood, but not raised by the blood, he will come from Rhuidean at dawn, and tie you together with bonds you cannot break. He will take you back, and he will destroy you.”

- The Shadow Rising, The Road to the Spear

Mandein feels the Aes Sedai marked him out before anything was said. He is the first chief to volunteer to go to Rhuidean and one of the few who appreciated the Jenn on their own terms. The first Maiden, Morin, another of Rand’s ancestors, is able to Dream, and is older than she looks, so she might also be able to channel. Many of Rand’s ancestors were crucial in some way: important leaders or visionaries.

Mandein is of the 13th generation after the drilling of the Bore. According to the World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel Of Time and The Eye of the World Prologue, the Collapse lasted 100-110 years, the actual War 10 and the Breaking 239-344 years. Yet the day the Bore was Sealed Coumin said the war was old before he was born and doesn’t believe there was a time in living memory before there was war (even though his great grandfather informed him otherwise). I guess Coumin doesn’t distinguish the violence of the Collapse from the War proper.

We have a brief glimpse of the gentleness and the high living standards of the Age before the world lurches into increasing hostility, violence, chaos and danger by a single disastrous act of hubris. The Bore was drilled due to ambition and curiosity. Mierin, as Lanfear was then, had no third name him (Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time) and this project would have been her attempt to earn it (see Lanfear essay for mythological parallels of her act). In some very apt symbolism the technological marvel, the Sharom (Sharom being very similar to the Hebrew word for ‘Peace’) is broken apart and darkness spreads across the sky swallowing the sun. As well as peace, shalom has connotations of wholeness, safety, welfare, health, prosperity, tranquility, contentment and friendship. It typifies the Age of Legends and what was lost.

The ground and the air rippled, in spreading waves, when the hole was made in the Dark One's prison. The Pattern itself was breached. In Knife of Dreams we saw a similar ripple occur over the world now that the seals have weakened to the point that the Dark One's prison is almost open. Interestingly the soldier’s helmets in the War of Power looks like insect heads, just as those of the Seanchan do.

The Song (or more properly, one type of Singing) is shown. It is more a technique than one single song and there has been enough foreshadowing to indicate it will need to be regained before the end of Tarmon Gai’don. The Song of the Da’shain Aiel that the Tinkers search for to bring back the peace and safety of the Age of Legends could be found by Perrin (Min’s viewing of trees flowering all around Perrin in The Eye of the World, Strangers and Friends) or Rand (in a link back to Lews Therin, who welcomed all to take part in the Singing which regularly occurred at his house (The Eye of the World, Prologue)), although the bronze statue library ter’angreal (see Statues and Figurines Ter’angreal article) from the Ebou Dar cache may also play an important part.

The Nym vanish first, the chora dwindle to one tree before our eyes and the Ogier and Jenn are a remnant of what they were. However, the Ogier find their stedding, their safe place, albeit at the cost of dependence; but for the Jenn, their safe place becomes a necropolis lasting three thousand years.

The Da’shain Aiel (Children of the Dragon) once served all Aes Sedai, not just the Dragon. By the time of the Breaking, they keep the name a secret because people react to Lews Therin's memory badly. Those Aiel who have been through the columns secretly keep the name as a memento of their Da’shain ancestry.

There were far more Dreamers or Dreamwalkers in the Breaking and early in the Third Age than there are now. This is consistent with Talents weakening and knowledge fading through this Age.

The Jenn look down on the Aiel, yet without the Aiel guard, the Jenn would perhaps not have survived to build Rhuidean, even allowing for the Aes Sedai with the Jenn, who would have to violate their ethics to defend the Jenn with channelling. The Aiel are a remnant of the Da’shain.

The Shaido and Brotherless have abandoned Aiel ways just as the Aiel abandoned the Da’shain Covenants. Variations on the theme of covenants and breaking of vows permeates the history of these people. The septs of those Aiel chiefs who did not come and agree to learn the history of their origins and accept their breach of promise died within three generations. The Jenn kept the faith yet died out. Those who broke it to a smaller or greater degree survived. Will the Shaido be the remnant of Aiel that survives the Last Battle? Or will it end differently this time, and the loyal followers will be rewarded for their service and not become extinct?

In 2004 I wrote an essay for Wotmania which summarised what is known about life in the
Age of Legends and into the Third Age, and some possible real life influences on Jordan's ideas about these times and events. It is now released here in the Reference Library.

The Shadow Rising Read-through #11- Meet the Sea Folk

Meet the Sea Folk

by Dominic

The Shadow Rising introduces us for good to the Sea Folk culture. Exotic and mysterious even to the Westlanders, they will remain so for the readers, more than the Westlands' nations. We had few POV from Sea Folk to give us real insight in their thinking, and their role in the series is limited, if growing by the end. Was this RJ's intention to keep them a little foreign and exotic for good, or did he plan the Sea Folk to have a larger role only in the series' finale? Or perhaps the role of these seafarers will remain secondary. Sometimes, we are fooled by Jordan's attention to worldbuilding details, for him it seemed that even if a group or nation was to play a secondary role, it was not a reason to shirk on building up their culture interestingly. We know he didn't intend to bring us to Seanchan again, nor to Shara. He's never said we would never visit the Sea Folk Islands, however (we have done so, but all too briefly.. Cantorin under the Seanchan, Tremalking through an Amayar's eyes)... We may know in a few months now.

Despite their small role, Jordan has worked into the Sea Folk culture nearly as many details and intricacies as he did for the Aiel, who played a central role. By The Shadow Rising, most of their culture seems already well established in Jordan's notes (he had much time to let worldbuilding ideas for books 4 and up mature in his mind, during the years he was working on 'the first trilogy', largely in parallel), the details of their hierachy figured and alluded to, if not yet revealed. In fact, the Sea Folk worldbuilding is rich enough that it has made quite a few readers disappointed we never got to see more of them.

An interesting aspect about the Sea Folk is their radically different vision of the era of the Last Battle, derived from their Jendai Prophecy. The Shadow Rising marks a point in the series where prophecies take the center stage: in Tar Valon, where different vision of how to deal with the Karaethon Cycle's events bring down Siuan and raises an Amyrlin from the Red Ajah. Elaida believes the worst of the KC (in her eyes, a 'second breaking') can be avoided, while Siuan and Moiraine believed they could guide Rand through the prophecies. Siuan even refuses to believe Min's Viewings are absolute and unavoidable, and who insists they are just warnings about events she could avert. Moiraine, in The Shadow Rising, seems to believe Prophecies are too obscure and it's better to make plans, rely and implement plans, and let the prophecies fulfill themselves.

In Tear the High Lords are divided on how to react to the fulfillment of the Callandor prophecies - some seing an opportunity to increase their power at Rand's side, others scheming to kill Rand as if it would make everything go away.

In the Waste, we get new dire Rhuidean prophecies, the harshest of all we know. Rand is the Aiel saviour, but also their destroyer. Again, we see some struggle between the Aiel to cope with this, and with their revealed past, but Shaido aside we are presented mostly with strong, fatalistic leaders determined to face what's coming to them and make the best of it.

The Jendai prophecy is different, or at least interpreted differently. The Sea Folk are the only ones in the series who look positively at the arrival of their Coramoor - a cause for celebration rather than fear. They see Rand not as the world's saviour, but as the herald of a new, better Age, that will bring great things to the Sea Folk. They know the world will see chaos, wars among the 'shorebounds', the White Tower broken. - but they look at this as opportunities. The Sea Folk have seen the nations rise and fall, while themselves endured. They knew about the Return, but their prophecy also tells them these fore will be sent away (more than once). They are to serve this Coramoor, but he will bring them glory and riches. From the Sea Folk's perspective, it seems as if the Last Battle itself doesn't exist or is of much lesser importance in the Sea Folk's wordlview than it is for the 'Shorebounds'. If they are to take any part in it, they still have not referred to that.

Interestingly, while for the Westlanders the issue through the series is to cope with the prophecies and learn they can't be avoided, for the Sea Folk the events of the series became an harsh lesson about their own beliefs. Their prophecy brought them united behind the Coramoor, and they thought they could bargain themselves away from the worse... The events in Ebou Dar showed them the price might be much higher than they thought to send 'those who once ruled' away. Rand's orders in KOD showed them they may not hold the best end of their Bargain with the Coramoor, and when they must serve, they must serve. Back home, their islands are thrown into tragedy as the Amayar they had sworn to protect destroy themselves. They drove a very hard bargain with the Tower to agree to help with the weather - their whole harsh attitude toward Aes Sedai may be based on their belief the White Tower is (as their prophecy may imply) broken for good. Once the Sea Folk leaders got involved, we got very far from the friendly cooperative attitude of Jorin, the generosity of Sailmistress Coine... the Sea Folk may learn before the end the Tower's power was broken only to return even stronger... if Egwene has her way, the Windfinders may find themselves linked to all the other channnelers in future, free to serve where they wish - and choose other careers than the one their ability force them to adopt in Sea Folk culture.

The Sea Folk's worldview, how they always seem to focus on the great things the Jendai Prophecy promise them and aren't very cooperative with the 'shorebounds' or concerned with the events there and the Last Battle, has made them grating to many readers. The cultural clash between the Atha'an Miere who focus on the fourth Age and seem to take as granted the victory of the Light; the Amayar who seemed to think either the world was about to end and it was useless to go on, or that it was better to die to avoid Tarmon Gai'don and be reborn in a new world; the Aiel's attitude to the fulfillment of the Rhuidean prophecy; the wide range of reactions to the Karatheon Cycle - and even the Seanchan vision, is always interesting to observe. Prophecies are much more than simply foreshadowing in the hands of RJ, it's at the core of important themes he has developped in the series.

Another interesting point in these two chapters on Wavedancer is the fact Elayne swore (on the honour of House Trakand) to defend the freedom of the Sea Folk from the Tower. It will be interesting to know if Elayne will get involved when and if Egwene presents her plan to tie the Windfinders to the Tower despite how the Sea Folk dealt with her, or if all her frustrating experiences with the Sea Folk will make her forget or break this oath to Jorin.

Jorin's fate itself is an interesting matter for speculation. Jordan loved to bring back minor characters like her - but we haven't seen or heard of Wavedancer since this trip to Tanchico. We may have a clue, though: we know Coine intended to go spread the news of the Coramoor to Dantora harbour in the Aile Jafar (near Tanchico) and then to sail to Cantorin harbour in the Aiel Somera (due west of Falme). It seems she made it to Dantora. But as we know, Cantorin was at the time the Seanchan base. If Jorin returns in AMOL, she may well do so, initially at least, as a damane...

The Shadow Rising Read-through #10 - Into the Heart... and painted in a corner

Into the Heart... and painted in a corner

by Dominic

For this one I return first to chapter 5, Questioners that concludes with a spectacular entry by Moiraine in complete fury at Rand, having lost all her Aes Sedai reserve and her usual coolness. She is at her wits' end and even admits that she is desperate. That scene set the tone for the character in this book, where she finally gains much depth and interest for me. Moiraine too is at an important crossroads: she has come to the point where all her methods to handle someone like Rand have proved ineffective and even backfired, leaving her painted into a corner, with no clear issue in sight. She has placed herself in a position of authority over Rand, attempted to bring him to let her take all the decisions for him and trust her blindly - showing her irritation when he asks her to at least explain herself.

Moiraine has failed to create any personal tie between them, of friendship or trust - she even discouraged it - always making sure to keep herself at a distance, even making herself elusive at the beginning of The Great Hunt when Rand actively sought her help and advice, to manipulate him into believing she had no further interest in him (a plan Cadsuane would manage to pull off, Moiraine failed spectacularly).

Moiraine has never shown any trust in any of the younglings - and not much personal interest in them (they perceive, and rightly for the most part, that for her they are more elements in her plans than people she cares about for themselves) - and it's probably one of her great failures, and one for which she probably shouldn't be too personally blamed, however: she is in this the product of the White Tower culture, and her predicament is emblematic of the White Tower's global problems, results of past failures and of the Aes Sedai placing themselves out of and above the rest of humanity and of relationships with the outside - not marrying, letting nation and family behind, avoiding friendship with non-sisters etc. Aes Sedai are still respected by many, for their power and knowledge, somewhat more rarely for the services they provide, but they are loved and welcomed by few. While Moiraine kept to that remote attitude, the boys, the girls and even Thom and Lan have bonded and banded around her - forming personal ties of friendship and trust, and by The Shadow Rising Moraine finds herself totally out of this inner circle, mistrusted (and often disliked) by all but Lan, and even he takes more and more the side of others.

The younglings will even rejoice whenever they see her make a slip, commit a mistake. So late in the game, some of her attempts to bring the girls on her side, by flattering them and offering them bits of information will backfire when the girls' loyalty goes first to their friends, not to her or even the Tower - Mat will benefit from this from Egwene. It was always for Moiraine a matter that they should trust her knowledge, her experience and her authority. The Shadow Rising brings her on a wholly new path at the culmination of which she will, of her own decision, become the servant, the advisor and the teacher. This book shows Moiraine how she must become a mentor to Rand, teach him how to be a leader and make his own decisions, not attempt to be the leader in his place.

In the early chapters, Moiraine is uncharacteristically shown to make a whole strings of misjudgments and bad calls. She had made some before, but never has Jordan shown anywhere so many in a row: She decided Perrin needed no watching on the motive he would never decide to leave Rand; she lost much of the little trust Rand still had in her when he discovered for himself the content of the Prophecies that she had not wanted him to read for himself (who would trust a woman who tells you she'll do everything so these prophecies get accomplished yet don't trust you or your sense of duty enough to even be honest with you about what she knows of your fate - none of which is anywhere near pleasant); Moiraine is so remote personally from the group (and clouded by her fury and despair) that she has completely missed that Egwene is not in love with Rand anymore - and completely misread Elayne's reaction to Berelain - quite a feat given Moiraine is Cairhienin and trained in spotting and deciphering the smallest reactions in people); and one of her worse judgement call come with her 'great plan' for Rand. In the same breath she blames Rand for attempting to read and study the prophecies for clues, she herself conceive a plan and attach it to an obscure verse to convince him it's what he must do, all the while admitting 'it could mean anything'. Moiraine knows intellectually, but still can't accept objectively that the Wheel pulls Rand where he needs to go, when he needs to go. In Tear, she has put out of her mind how the long months on Almoth Plain and the moment of his departure placed him right when and where he needed to be for the Callandor verses to be fullfilled. With her plan, she was taking the massive risks she would have scolded Rand for had he been his plan: she would have him launch a frontal assault against a Forsaken she knows but scraps about and who disposes of unknown forces, supposedly in a demonstration of force that would outdo Hawkwing and bring all the nations behind Rand in one blow and make all the other Forsaken tremble in fear. Little did Moiraine know nations were already under the Forsaken, that Sammael was one of the best generals and even with far more experience and preparation Rand would barely defeat him later.

In Tear, she begins dangerous games with Rand's allies. The girls are oblivious to this, but they have been cleverly manipulated. They believe Moiraine encouraged them to play the full sisters only because it helps keep the High Lords on their toes - which is part of it. They failed to see her deeper motives: not only she kept the girls safely where she could watch them, let them busy themselves with the Black Sisters, but she also made Rand see all of them as Aes Sedai too. By the time she changes her mind and decides to manipulate Egwene into becoming Rand's confident, it's too late. These weeks at the Stone mark the point where Rand really start to distance himself from Egwene and Nynaeve, start to mistrust Egwene - because of their ties to Moiraine and the Tower. Little does Rand understand what goes on behind closed doors and how critical and suspicious of Moiraine the girls themselves are, how much they all stand on his side. Soon, when the Black Sisters are no longer around to keep the girls busy and away from Rand (and after Elayne will start taking too much of his attention to Moiraine's taste), Moiraine will set her schemes in motion to get them out of the way, much to her chagrin ending up stuck with Egwene.

She will also manipulate Rand's best ally to handle the Tairen traps, Thom Merrilin, into departing Tear. By TFOH, once she understood better the challenges awaiting Rand,she will have herself to rush-train Rand in the very same notions of rulership and the Game of Houses she had prevented Thom from teaching him, deeming them useless at the time. This has to be one of my favourite Moiraine scenes in the series. The beginning is simply hilarious, with Thom catching Moiraine shamelessly spying on his privae papers and her smoothing her skirts and sitting down in perfect composure as if nothing had ever happened. Very funny moment, the kind Jordan was a master of. She is at her best in that scene - dedicated and determined to achieve what she believes to be the right thing, in cool control and at her most clever in outplaying the old master of the Game of Houses. We see her resorting to very hard, even harsh means to get her way: she begins with veiled threats about his true past, redolent of black mail. Thom retorts expertly, blow for blow. These two characters, more than a little antagonist to each other at that point, have both puzzled out much about the other - and both have played their hand well, keeping these information to themselves to use them at need. Two masters at work. Having met her match on this front, Moiraine rather try to play om his old wounds and borrowed feelings, trying to saddle her with protecting Elayne out of old feelings he had once for her mother. Thom would indeed get attached and become a surrogate father to Elayne (he's the one who made her fatherless, incidentally) - but for now he manages to wriggle out of the trap Moiraine has set. And he leaves her no choice but to use her most dubious card - both extremely unkind toward him and more than out of line with her duty to the Tower: Moiraine re opens Thom's deepest wounds about his inability to save his nephew Owyn, and Moiraine promises to pay him in return for his departure with the girls by giving him the information with which to bring down the sisters responsible for the illegal gentling. As more plants those seeds, Siuan will soon plant others in the same patch - lies about Logain to bring down the Red Ajah and Elaida. Moiraine leaves Thom a wreck - as soon as she departs he burst into tears. Not pretty, but Moiraine well knows she has to make victims or the Shadow will win. Like we will get from Cadsuane when she will have no choice but to do what she loaths and break the First Counsel of Far Madding, Jordan gave us in the Thom and Moiraine scene a glimpse into Moiraine's emotions. Whatever she really feels for Thom, she becomes a bit more heated when she tells him she will prove not all sisters are like the Reds who destroyed Owyn (but then, they too see that as their duty...) and her sympathy and regret for what she has to do to Thom are palpable - for all that Thom is convinced Moiraine was faking. Thom was probably not the only one emotionally shacken by this scene. It could have been revealing to see what went on in Moiraine's mind as she left the room. This scene was excellent. Jordan sets up Moiraine as a very dangerous, clever and determined woman, who will resort to very harsh means if necessary. That scene is completed with the Moiriane POV in Into the Heart, that shows her position everyone, like stones on a board. To Rand, Moiraine has become an antagonist, a challenge he will have to find a way to overcome. For Moiraine too, getting herself out of the corner she's painted herself in will become perhaps her biggest challenge of her career - one that will the help of the Wise Ones' ter'angreal she will win. In the end, it's her total dedication to her cause that will win over her habit of wanting to control everything. And like the inspiring story of his mother Tigraine who gave up her beloved son, Moraine's greatest lesson for Rand in the end may have been to show him how far faith and dedication to the Light must go to win.

It's extremely interesting o look back here at the very different Moiraine Robert Jordan presented in New Spring. Barely older than Rand or Egwene, younger than Nynaeve, Moiraine had much in common with the younglings: impetuous and prone to take risks or go blindly in dangerous situations. She already had Perrin's deep sense of duty and responsability, the stubborness and strong will of Rand and Egwene - and like them she disliked authority, being told what to do and being limited in the decisions affecting her own life - fleeing as Mat would have done when the Hall wanted to settle her down as Queen of Cairhien. Siuan herself was much like Mat, loving pranks, wanting to have adventures around the world and fearing to be saddled with responsabilities. How they have changed since!

There is an amusing moment in 'Doorways', when Moiraine mentions sarcastically Siuan's writ. So the girls did flash her in her face at some earlier point... It's a pity Jordan didn't think or want to tell us how that episode went, or had it happen on-screen. Moiraine made strange decisions about Joiya and Amico. It's atypical of her, and her measure of her obsession with Rand at that point, to have had so little interest in women who were involved directly with a Forsaken in a trap set for Rand. She barely devoted any effort to making them spill what they knew, much to the girls' frustration. She would have gotten far more out of Amico, certainly - Joiya being a lost cause because of her Oaths. But Moiraine bizarelly dismissed them as unimportant - right before the Shadow decided that they knew too much to be left alive...

Moiraine's Cairhienin-style manipulations, her real opinions of some of the younglings too, become more apparent in her POV in chapter 21, Into the Heart.

There are many amusing and/or interesting moments in this chapter. First there is Moiraine irritated because Lan has vanished and failed to stay at her side. Musing over how well Nynave has bound him to her though in her thinking Lan is still fighting it fiercely (no longer as much as she believes, though), she wonders what the hell Lan can be doing. He simply enough was playing the worried lover and warder to Nynaeve by sending Juilin to them, Nynaeve whom Moiraine was all too glad to get out of the way, even if it meant to the dangers of Tanchico.

Then there is Moiraine once more showing how completely off-track she is in her judgement of the personal relationships in the group. She tries to manipulate Egwene into getting Rand to confide in her - Egwene sees her coming and it earns Moraine a sidelong glance. Ooops... those simple manipulations no longer work! Egwene then explains to Moiraine what really goes on with Rand: He will not confide in anyone, Moiraine. He hides his pains, and hopes he can deal with them before anyone notices." Anger flashed across Egwene's face. "The wool-brained mule!" Moiraine completely misinterpret the reaction, thinking Egwene is upset over Rand and Elayne.

Moiraine again makes a mistake in judgement, this time about the plans of the Black Ajah, and reveals what the earlier chapter suggested about her manipulations of the girls:

"The purported plan with Mazrim Taim was much the more likely of the two, but her messages to the Amyrlin should have taken care of that. The two young women could handle the much less likely eventuality of a mysterious danger hidden in Tanchico, and they were out of her hair and away from Rand. She only regretted that Egwene had refused to go with them. Tar Valon would have been best for all three, but Tanchico would do.
"Speaking of wool-brained, do you mean to continue with this plan to go into the Waste?"
"I do," the girl said, firmly. She needed to be back in the Tower, training her strength. What was Siuan thinking of? She will probably give me one of those sayings about boats and fish, when I can ask her.
At least Egwene would be out of the way, too, and the Aiel girl would look after her.

Into the Heart also shows how dangerously arrogant Moiraine had become : "the boy had to depend on her counsel. Hers, and hers alone." Who thinks she turns the Wheel of Time...

Jordan also introduces a notion that he would develop in the Two Rivers story line. For all her studies of the Prophecies (perhaps too focussed on her part on trying to find in them a coherent plan she could follow), Moiraine has no idea that Mat is referred to in them as The Fox and - more easier to puzzle out at that point - Perrin as the Wolf-King and his Hammer: "There was no guide to how they were connected, or what they were supposed to do; the Prophecies never mentioned companions." In fact, they held clues - Moiraine simply looked in them for the wrong things. It's Verin who will outdo Moiraine on this one after a few days observing Perrin, as we'll see later in the book.

Right before Rand enters the Heart, Moiraine and Egwene have this exchange on Perrin and Faile:

"I like her," Egwene said. "She is good for him, just what he needs. And she cares for him deeply."
"I suppose she does." If Faile became too troublesome, Moiraine would have to have a talk with her, about the secrets Faile had been keeping from Perrin. Or have one of her eyes and ears do it. That should settle her down.
"You say it as if you don't believe it. They love each other, Moiraine. Can't you see that? Can't you even recognize a human emotion when you see one?"
Moiraine gave her a firm look, one that settled her on her heels in a satisfactory manner. The girl knew so little and thought she knew so much.

Alas for Moiraine, Egwene's grasp here is greater than hers. Moiraine would soon learn Perrin's sense of duty made him slip out of her hands. Egwene's remark stinged Moiraine more than she let on - as her spiteful repartie later showed.

The chapter doesn't make Moiraine appear in a very good light humanly speaking - beside brief flashes of sympathy, all her thoughts of people are concerned with how to manipulate them, how to use them to serve her interests, how to settle them down via blackmail (thinking about it for Faile, trying to use it with Thom) - and most of her thoughts about Egwene are concerned with studying her, judge how easily or not she could be manipulated. Moiraine is far from a bad person, but devoting twenty years to a single cause and seeing control slip out of her hands more and more have taken its toll on her. It musn't have been easy for her, she had given away so much, sacrifice so much to get where she is and prepare for this task - and when this great moment finally happens, nothing goes as she planned and expected, everything is one frustration after another.

Her knowledge of human relationships is also very limited. She doesn't have many friends, she was raised in a palace where servants obeyed her, as Aes Sedai, after a fairly short training, her strength put her above most the others and her connection to Siuan eventually gave her even more freedom to do as she pleased. She avoided the Tower for the most part, too. Her closest relationship is with Lan, another one based mostly on strict obedience to her. These two are firmly bound by oaths and duty but not very close on a personal level (Lan will significantly say little about her after she's believed dead), and since Moiraine betrayed Lan's trust by arranging to pass his bond to Myrelle without his knowledge or approval and told him about it (while keeping from him the essential: she meant Myrelle to pass it to Nynaeve all along), they have become even more distant. How can Lan not see in Moiraine's gesture the opposite, an attempt to make sure he would never be Nynaeve's? He has gotten closer and closer to Nynaeve since, even acting for her in Moiraine's back, as he does during this chapter. Poor Moiraine just isn't very much a people's person... Egwene has a better grasp of what goes on with Rand at this point. Experienced women like Sorilea and Cadsuane will decipher him almost at a glance. Moiraine will soon learn, and accept, her true role in the Pattern.

The Shadow Rising Read-through #9 - Rumours, and those who spread them

Rumours, and those who spread them

by Dominic


Rumours is another interesting chapter, with a bit of a mystery. Merchants in taverns in Tear have heard and repeat stories about the ongoing events in the Two Rivers. There are several oddities about those rumours. The first one is their accuracy - the distortion of information over time or distance is a favourite theme of Robert Jordan, and that a story that the Whitecloaks have entered the Two Rivers, that they are looking for Rand and a young Darkfriend with yellow eyes without being garbled is decidely odd... as if the rumour had been transmitted first hand in Tear, by someone who knew.

The second oddity is how fast this rumour travelled. As Steven Cooper's Chronology shows, Dain Bornhald entered the Two Rivers on the 12th day of Saven. He was discreet and cautious not to let anyone spread the news of what he was doing. Sixteen days later, on the 28th day of Saven, the rumours were commonplace enough in Tear for Perrin, Mat, Faile and even Moiraine or her spies to have heard them - all the same story. Jordan even left us an element of comparison: on the same day, the far more earth shattering news that Rand has taken the Stone just begin to spread in Tar Valon. This makes no sense at all. Even if merchants had bumped into the Whitecloaks, they were acting in complete secrecy, to avoid attracting Morgase's attention. Bornhald would never have spread the news. In any case, merchants close enough to the Two Rivers (in Baerlon or Whitebridge etc.) would be nowhere near Tear yet 16 days later.

A third oddity is how widespread the rumour was in Tear itself for such an unimportant and remote piece of news. Someone, or more likely many someones obviously spread it in many taverns, among Defenders of the Stone, servants in the Stone etc.

In short, there's nothing 'normal' about those rumours. They were most definitely planted. Jordan never left too many clues to puzzle out who started it, and the present theory certainly as no hard and conclusive evidence to present, just some ideas.

The most obvious suspect, the one who has known in advance that he would go to the Two Rivers and why is Padan Fain, who started his expedition in Amadicia. There are however two major problems. The first is that later on in the book Padan Fain will start to take measures to ensure the news of his depradations in the Two Rivers. His POV more than suggest he has attacked Tam's farm and slaughtered the Aybaras before he start sending some of his men out to spread rumours. The second problem is that Padan Fain had no time to learn that the boys were in Tear. He could not send agents there to spread rumours, and doesn't have nearly enough of them to send them everywhere.... So the source of those rumours in Tear at the end of Saven is very unlikely to be Padan Fain.

A second suspect, far more believable, is Pedron Niall. Fain may have advise to begin spreading the tale that the Whitecloaks were entering the Two Rivers, looking for Rand and Perrin. Through Sebban Balwer and his local agents, Niall had the means to do it. One problem, however, is that at the time Niall could have done this, he believed Rand to be in the West, on Almoth Plain, not in Tear. Another problem is that Niall was taking a big risk by spreading that rumour, the risk that Morgase heard of it and sent the Queen's Guards to trap Bornhald in the Two Rivers - the very danger that may Bornhald insist on closing the area and making no news got out... So Niall is unlikely in the end.

There is yet another suspect: Lanfear. In Tear, Rand was a sitting duck for the Forsaken who wanted to kill him, like Moiraine she wanted him to move (but definitely not to go attack Sammael so early!) and she wanted him isolated to implement her plan to convince him to accept Asmodean as a teacher. And at the time, Lanfear still had no idea that she didn't need to bother with this, Rand would soon go to the Aiel Waste... Rand himself made the decision later. The remote Two Rivers where he came from was a perfect location for Lanfear to use. She just had to engineer a threat to his village and attract Rand's attention to it. From all she knew of him at the time, he would come. Her original plan would not have included Whitecloaks, she probably intended to let Rand believe one of the Forsaken was sending an attack on his village to provoke him - that he should be cautious not to fall intro a trap if he chose to go... and did he know he could really use a teacher? Of course, she would show up there as a peddler with a village gleeman (a mysterious woman, a peddler and a gleeman - that's one more example of Jordan creating mirrors - this time between Lanfear's plan and the beginning of EOTW, with Moiraine, Fain and Thom as the strangers). She would be able to precisely control the threat there, making sure Rand came in no more danger than she wanted him to be in, to convince him he must learn.

There is one problem with this theory: Lanfear shouldn't have known about the Whitecloak threat or that they were looking for Perrin (they were not, in truth, looking for Rand - this part of the rumour is false... and suspicious. The rumour don't make mention of Mat, he made sure of that, and that too is suspicious because Fain wanted him too while Lanfear didn't care for Perrin at this point).

Unlike the previous problem, however, this one can be dealt with: of course Lanfear could know all this about the Two Rivers, if she's the one who sent Slayer to mount a big threat against Emond's Field. On Saven 27, Slayer and Lanfear both even showed up in the Stone - Lanfear visited Rand during Sammael's attack, and Slayer killed Amico and Joyia. Coincidence? Interestingly, the day when Lanfear visited wasn't supposed to be the day of the attack, because she had missed her guess about the day on which Sammael would attack. She intended to come warn Rand, but she arrived too late. Slayer probably wasn't supposed to coordinate the murders of Amico and Joyia with the attack either, it just happened. This makes it possible Lanfear and Slayer had

Here's what I think happened:

Lanfear asked Isam to bring Shadowspawn in the Two Rivers to create a bait for Rand. Isam reported to her on Saven 27. He told her about Bornhald and that he was there to look for Perrin - and that Fain was there. Lanfear ordered him to keep going, and to eliminate Fain if he could. Before he went back, she ordered him to make a detour by the dungeons and kill Amico and Joyia and to nail their tongues to the door first: she wanted to get rid of the girls by sending them after Liandrin, and killing the captured BA that way might convince them to stop dwindling their toes and move on with their hunt, and reinforced the notion that what they learned from Amico and Joyia was true, that they were killed to silence them. Right away, Lanfear contacted tairen Darkfriend leaders and ordered them to put their circles to spreading the story of the Whitecloaks in the Two Rivers all over Tear. She changed her plan and threw in the bit Slayer reported about Perrin being hunted by Whitecloaks and added Rand to it for good measure - it was even better than her original idea. On Saven 27, no one seems to have known about this rumour, the next day, it seemed to be all over Tear. Darkfriend circles in Tear could achieve this overnight. This solution also explains why the rumour about Whitecloaks and the Two Rivers would be circumscribed only to Tear. Caemlyn, for example, would rather hear of the rumours spread by Fain's agents: troubles, and strange banners - much later, after Fain's agents slipped through Bornhald's watch of the Taren.

Nothing came out of the plan in the end: Rand asked Perrin only to go, and Lanfear learned Rand rather intended to go to Rhuidean. She simply changed her destination. This also explains why Lanfear was able to put her little expedition so fast after she learned of Rand's destination: they were already ready... but to go to the Two Rivers.

The Shadow Rising Read through #8 - Reluctant Hero

Reluctant Hero

by Linda



A new article is now available in the Reference Library: in the Character Parallels series, Mat Cauthon.

Mat Cauthon is perhaps as complex a character as his friend and fellow ta’veren Rand. Gods and heroes from world religions and mythology, Celtic heroes, great historical generals, and figures from medieval drama all have some bearing on Mat’s attributes and are detailed in the essay on Mat’s parallels newly written for the blog.

In The Dragon Reborn, and The Shadow Rising, the reborn Mat acquired considerable abilities.

Mat has been a soldier and a horseman since the start of the series – it is his heritage from the Two Rivers - but then his luck changed, and he became a trickster and a god of wealth. It was in Rhuidean that Mat gained the potential to become a general and, like Odin, was hanged to pay for this knowledge and perhaps for what this knowledge would do to the world when used to introduce gunpowder weapons. No longer will only one or two percent of the population who can channel be able to kill en masse (and most channellers are bound by social law or oaths or ter’angreal against doing so), anyone with a little training and equipment will be able to do so.

Mat’s final accomplishment in his unwilling efforts to preserve the Pattern from the Shadow will be to become the King of the Underworld or King of the Dead. (Not Death itself, that is Moridin). All three ta’veren become increasingly dark as the Shadow forces them into ever more violent deeds, blackening their names and characters. That is why each is associated with an ambivalent animal symbol: the Dragon (one step away from the Serpent), the predatory wolf and the unreliable fox . It indicates the price they, and the world, pays. While Perrin’s secondary animal symbol is the fertile and formidable bull (he is Young Bull in the eyes of the wolves), Mat’s is the raven, a scavenger associated with the dead. He was dubbed Prince of the Ravens in Knife of Dreams, soon after he and Aludra planned the making of gunpowder weapons and just before their first serous trial in the battlefield.

But in The Shadow Rising, Mat is a long way short of this. He is trying to avoid all forms of work, danger or responsibility. He won’t help Rand, won’t return home and he dreads his fate to be married; he thinks most of fun, money and the safety to enjoy them, despite knowing the crisis the world is in. Fond of women, Mat is far more loyal to his female friends than his male ones.

All through The Shadow Rising, and The Fires of Heaven, Mat’s mantra is: “It’s all Rand’s fault I am in danger/discomfort. The war is nothing to do with me; I don’t want to get involved.” This is a fairly typical example:

Burn Rand! None of the shapes he saw moving were big enough to be a Trolloc. Always dumping me into these bloody things! Low moans came from the wounded. A shadowy form he thought was Moiraine knelt beside a downed Aiel. Those balls of fire she tossed about were impressive, almost as much as that sword of Rand's, spurting bars of flame. The thing still shone so a circle of light surrounded the man. I should have stayed in my blankets is what I should have done. It's bloody cold, and this is nothing to do with me!

- The Shadow Rising, Traps

The Aelfinn’s and Eelfinn’s role in Mat’s development is crucial: between them they gave him the knowledge that will win battles against the Shadow and will gain him an important alliance with the Seanchan.

Mat escaped the dangers of the underworld of Shadar Logoth and the otherworld of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn, although both times he was resuscitated and reborn – but then he is King of the Underworld.

The Shadow Rising Read-through #7 - What Lies Hidden.. and what might the Wise Ones Know About It?

What Lies Hidden.. and what might the Wise Ones Know About It?

by Dominic

Another aspect of The Shadow Rising I like is as the characters become more knowledgeable, Jordan began expanding in greater and more precise details fundamental elements of the series like the One Power (which appeared until book four a lot more "magical") and tel'aran'rhiod. Another factor that probably contributed to this "expansion" is that Robert Jordan developed the "first trilogy" over a decade but in parallel, going through several drafts (as I pointed out, it became three books only a some point in the creative process, it started as one book), all the while refining his ideas and concepts for the rest of the series. When he began writing the fourth book, the first he had nothing written for after the publication of the previous volume, his concepts and ideas for it had matured for many years.

In What Lies Hidden, we get our first "real" visit of tel'aran'rhiod – in the sense that it's (debatedly) the first time the World of Dreams is presented in full the way it would be from now on, devoid of the unexplained or more approximate/elastic elements of the earlier books, as Egwene herself discovers more about her Talents and the rules of tel'aran'rhiod, including how much she doesn't yet know.

Robert Jordan introduced a little recap about the ring and Corianin Nedeal. While this is the last time (IRRC and The Wot Encyclopedia didn't miss a reference) she will be mentioned by name in the series, but Jordan has insisted quite a lot on her in the early books. Are there secrets from Corianin Nedeal that are yet to come? How does the discovery of her diary factors (or not) in Verin's plan? Corianin has gone down in the chronicles as a Dreamer of limited talent. Is this the truth or a misconception she fed herself? Has she hidden her most important prophetic dreams in her diary, not revealing them to anyone but the woman who would find her. What does the diary contain that Verin decided not only never to reveal its content to other sisters but also decided after some hesitation not to show it to Egwene, letting what need to happen happen. Personally, I expect we aren't done with Corianin's secrets, I suspect her diary didn't contain so much secrets about her Talent and tel'aran'rhiod but some sort of 'The Nedeal Prophecies' she wished to keep secret from the Shadow. Verin, much more rapidly than Moiraine, seemed to puzzle out what Perrin and Mat are meant to do – and I often wonder if Corianin didn't mention another Dreamer to come... I'm quite eager to discover what Verin's plan is, and what were her real motivations for giving the Ring to Egwene.

In this chapter, we also discover that a Dreamer can develop the skill to read the weave of the Pattern – past, present or future – into the Unseen World itself. It is a skill Egwene has not really used "on-screen" so far (though perhaps Perrin's "windows/visions" are an example). We know the Wise Ones know how, it's likely Egwene has learned it by now, but she has not use it. As she roams Tanchico, however, we may have gotten an example of how the World of Dreams may be twisted to reflect some truths about the present. This happens after Egwene concentrated on looking for dangers in the city:

"She pulled herself back to why she was there. What would be a sign of the Black Ajah? Or of this danger to Rand, if it existed? Most of the white buildings were plastered, the plaster chipped and cracked, often showing weathered wood or pale brown brick beneath. Only the towers and the larger structures – palaces, she supposed – were stone, if still white. Even the stone had tiny fissures, though, most of it; cracks too minute for the eye to catch, but she could feel them with the Power in her, spiderwebbing domes and towers. Perhaps that meant something. Perhaps it meant Tanchico was a city not looked after by its inhabitants. As likely that as anything else."

First, it should be noted all these fissures are not described at all in scenes set in the real world. They seem to be obvious signs that Moghedien's will is on the city – Moghedien who is described as a venomous spider who likes to hide in dark cracks and fissures. There is also an ongoing civil war. These signs readable in TAR are useless to Egwene, who doesn't know the city or the woman. Amys later in the scene will do a little better: she can also sense a feeling of evil Egwene missed, and mentions the city is dying, eating itself out. But that's all – she doesn't know Moghedien (or the Black Ajah) either – nor the city, and she points this out to Egwene. It seems that much can be read in the subtle differences between the real world and the reflection in tel'aran'rhiod – but a knowledge of the location is necessary to make much out of this. It's notable that Egwene's attention was attracted to the odd 'spiderwebbing' fissures after using a method similar to 'Need' – this may be an indication on her talent's strength. Perhaps it was possible through strength of will to get TAR to show more, though I suspect that method could be deadly.

While we're on the topic of spiders, I'll point out something else which is 'classic Jordan'. This is far from the only reference to spider and webs he has used during scenes set in Tanchico or scenes involving Moghedien. Elayne will point Thom and Juilin's spiderweb of contacts in the city, for example. It's another way in which he loved to use symbolic elements and metaphors. There are several in this chapter, notably animal symbolism. Egwene will 'fly free like a falcon' (a common allusion to Faile's characters), she will sees many flies in Tanchico (the spider's preys), she will see a pack of lean feral dogs hunting the streets (darkhounds will hunt the streets of Rhuidean) – and the most interesting one: she will see an hidden lion (most often pointing to Rand or Elayne) looking at something far away she can't see, and closer a boar-like creature that doesn't see the Aiel woman about to throw a spear at it. Later in the scene, the boar-like creature will charge at her and she's barely escape. The boar symbolism points to Gawyn. He will soon be threatened by women, by Elaida who will try to have him killed in LOC – Galina decided it would be by Aiel. There is of course the viewing of Gawyn that he might be either a threat or a saviour to Egwene.

We also get our fist glimpse of Birgitte in TAR, and through Egwene's comments, the confirmation that the characters are not aware the Heroes are always reborn as Heroes under new names and appearances, and awaiting in TAR between these incarnations – they only know, from the legends, that the Heroes are tied to the Horn and will come back from the dead at its call.

The chapter ends with the meeting of Egwene and Amys. Amys's decision to teach Egwene has always puzzled me. We see in this chapter that the Aiel oral tradition has kept track of the Tower's dreamwalkers. She knows it's been a long time since the last one. Has Corianin been strictly observed by the Wise Ones, or did she have contact with them? Did she mention them in her diary? Is this what so interested Verin when she met her first Aiel and tried to make them talk of the Wise Ones and the fact they could channel? Did she give the Ring to Egwene because of the obvious connection between Rand and the Aiel, in the hope Egwene would meet the Aiel dreamwalkers?

And what truly motivated a secretive Wise One like Amys to take the stunning, and as far as we know unprecedented, step of inviting suddenly an Aes Sedai to come to the Wise Ones, to discover secrets they have kept from the sisters for millennia? Was it strictly because Egwene had a natural talent and was in danger for her life if it remained untrained? Or does the Wise Ones know something about a Tower Dreamer to come? Later, on Chandaer – Amys will say that they had seen nothing about Egwene coming to Rhuidean with Rand, but that's not the same as saying they knew nothing about Egwene. The Wise Ones still have many secrets – they obviously know something about the possibility Aiel return serving the Aes Sedai – but what they know about this, and how it may come about, is a secret they have so far managed to keep. It's interesting that Egwene, if she has her way, looks like she'll be the one tying the Aiel to the Tower again. Do the Wise Ones suspected it all along? Are there prophecies related to this we don't know about?

It's interesting how little Jordan was able to reveal about the Wise Ones. We have learned about LTT from Rand, we have learned much about the Tower's secrets from the fact Egwene became Amyrlin, and once Nynaeve and Elayne became Aes Sedai. Mat has given us many bits from earlier times. But by not making Aviendha a full Wise One yet, we have no main character who can give us full insight into the Wise Ones. Among the 'secrets' we still have no idea if the Aiel female line holds secrets only the Wise Ones and not the clan chiefs see in the Glass Columns – and what they could be. Has Jordan waited so long to make Aviendha return to Rhuidean a second time because important pieces of the puzzle will be revealed in those scenes, by showing her trip to the Columns, or simply from what she'll witness around as she returns to the city? There were many Tuatha'an in the Waste around the time of TSR, and the chiefs said many Ail taken by the bleakness have joined them. It's very possible, even likely that those Tinkers have been told about the Aiel's past by now, and how this past was revealed (the Wise Ones, once the secret was revealed by Rand, saw no point in not telling those who asked them what the Aiel's past was). Will there be Tinkers in Rhuidean? Rand was stunned by the state of the city when he very briefly (and pseudo-secretly) went in Winter's Heart. Has he missed details, or has it changed even more by now, could Aviendha find the Aiel and Tinkers there already re learning Singing?

Nice Concept Art from the Dabels' Graphic Adaptation of TEOTW

Tfaw.com has posted exclusive new concept art by Chase Conley for The Eye of the World characters.

I especially like the Green Man (very nice mythological allusions in the design), Elyas Macheras - and Nynaeve is awesome though her costume isn't quite something Nynaeve would agree to wear before TFOH or so. Moiraine is pretty cool as well, though, again, she's way too prude to wear anything that clinging and sexy.

Nice work guys, it looks like it's gonna be a fun ride. Issue #1 of The Eye of the World's graphic adaptation is to be released by the Dabel Brothers later this month.

The Shadow Rising Read-through #6 - Questioners

Questioners

by Dominic


With Questioners, the women enter the stage - the trio now augmented by Aviendha, and a new sub theme is introduced: prisoners and how to handle them, torture, how much such information can be trusted, the dangers involved, and later the temptation of extracting knowledge from the Shadow.

That's the first scene in which this is introduced, but the theme will progress through the series, culminating for Nynaeve with her face off to come with her nemesis Semirhage, and for Elayne with her dilemna about her Darkfriend prisoners, a poisonned gift for an Andoran Queen that Elayne will have to handle carefully (torture is notably illegal in Andor, keeping Aes Sedai prisoner and claiming, or keeping secret, they are Black Ajah will no doubt create a few problems - with the High Seats who will be worried, with Elaida's envoy Duhara when she learns of it - and probably with the other Aes Sedai at Inns too) - and Elayne and Birgitte do not yet know their old friend Moghedien is around, that Moridin is at the top of these schemes... and there's Slayer/Luc Mantear in the area as well. Will Elayne manage to handle this better than she could with Amico and Joiya, with Moghedien, with Ispan?

As always, the theme/motif is reflected elsewhere in the book: Siuan and Leane will find themselves in the hands of Alviarin, the Head of the Black Ajah. The darkfriend Isendre will become prisoner of the Maidens - her fate similar to what awaits Amico and Joiya.

With Aviendha, the motif revolves mostly around her transition from Maiden to Wise One, her apprenticeship to give up violence and find in herself another sort of strength. For Elayne - the future Queen - the motif is mostly associated to her role as the maker and dispenser of Justice, around matters of Laws. For Nynaeve, it concers the darkness inside her that she struggle with, a darkness that lead her not to trust herself with the One Power that created her block that lets her channel only when she has already lost control of her temper and is in no state to fear what she might do. As I will look at in a post devoted to Nynaeve (for whom I have a special fondness) during the TFOH read-through, Jordan has created Nynaeve as a parallel of Semirhage. Even her misadventures with Moghedien are subtly twisted to prepare her for her real nemesis, her real challenge: Semirhage. Nynaeve had the potential to become Semirhage both as Healer and sadist, it's through her personal struggle, her moral fiber, her inner strength that she rejects such impulses. Her final victory over her temper and violent impulses come around the time she breaks her block. How far will she dare go with Semirhage, how far can she go before what the acts she commits are no better than what Semirhage herself does?

But let's get back to our prisoners and questioners for now.

The chapter introduces interesting notions and hints of things to come. The concept of the Black Ajah was quite interesting at the beginning of The Great Hunt, but it remained elusive in the end, limited to tantalizing yet a bit too straight forward apparitions by Liandrin, very few hints of what the society really was and how dangerous it may be. The Dragon Reborn offered us a bit more, with Liandrin's thirteen, but again they failed to had much depth to the world building of the organization and they played an extremely peripheral role in the book by the end. The Shadow Rising changes all of this, and as the Tower Coup looms ahead, Jordan begins to add details and depths that make the Blacks more intriguing and tentacular. It is in this chapter that we get our first clue about the organization of the Black Ajah into Hearts. We also get the first real clue that they may have sworn new oaths (without the capital, for now) that somehow severed the others, to use Egwene's expression. Jordan also introduced new details about stilling and burning yourself out, cleverly putting in place elements he needed established for Siuan and Leane's story line. The mystery that made Amico lose her ageless look (he later changed some of the rules about this, by the information given by Verin Amico is too young to have developped the ageless look yet; later in the series Jordan would establish it takes longer after swearing the Oaths to look ageless - but th ekist of it was there even at this point as Jordan had the difference in look for young Amico be very subtle, nothing like Siuan and Leane). Aviendah almost puzzle the mystery out, not knowing however about the Oath Rod - that part will be left to Egwene, much later. More clues will come once we meet the Wise Ones and discover that they haven't the ageless look.

The revelations of Amico about Tanchico provide a second clue to something with which Rand could be controlled - in a few chapters Jordan will raise the stakes by connecting the two, introducing Egeanin in Tanchico as an agent of Suroth, the woman who very much wanted to know how the Aes Sedai controlled Rand and who was sure they had a way. As it turns out, Amico's story was essentially true, though she may have left out much, we'll never know. An unresolved question is who was behind this plan. Amico only mentions Liandrin as the originator, but with hindsight on the working of the Black Ajah, that is very unlikely. A Forsaken must have been behind it, and since Amico hearing of that plan predates the fall of the Stone I think the most propable suspect was Be'lal. His full plan for Rand was twarthed by Rand's early arrival in Tear, by the interference of Lanfear with Liandrin's group and the Egwene etc. He wasn't ready to set in motion whatever he planned to do with his thirteen Black Sisters. It seems he may have wanted to send Liandrin and some others to investigate something about the ter'angreal in Tanchico. In any case, Liandrin seems to have known as much about it and its functions and weaknesses as Moghedien later did. It's highly unlikely the Black Ajah would have let this object around if they had known about it.

Joiya's story is another ball game. From what we learn later on the Oaths sworn by Black Sisters, Joiya should have been unable to reveal anything real about the Shadow's plans - and once we will get to know Alviarin better, it makes it even more unlikely that Black Sisters not directly involved in a plan would know anything about it. It seems to have been a pure coincidence, and sheer bad luck, that she happened to invent a believable scheme she placed far away from where Liandrin would be but that touched on elements others may have set in motion. In her first scene in the book, Alviarin asks Elaida if she's got anything concrete with which to accuse Siuan - Elaida answers 'not yet'. From that moment to the time Siuan was deposed, Mazrim Taim's escape was organized (officially by 'followers') and Elaida used the accusation against Siuan, who would get her revenge by inventing an all too believable story based in part on Red Ajah skeletons she (and her future target audience: the Sitters) knew of from the Thirteenth Depository of the Red Ajah setting Logain up. It seems Alviarin and Mesaana probably organized Taim's escape and provided Elaida with 'proofs', and later contributed keeping Taim elusive, then to keep Elaida busy and make her lash at everyone, an early step in Mesaana's plans to divide the Tower. The mystery of what happened with Taim during The Shadow Rising remains an interesting one even now.

In Tanchico or the Tower, the girls learn of the gruesome murder of Joyia and Amico. Their throats were slit and their tongues were first nailed to the door. The image, the message, was clear: it was related to what they revealed or could have revealed. Someone feared they would talk, or tought they had.

Or is it that clear? These murders have remained a mystery. It's only in Winter's Heart that we learned Slayer was sent to execute the women - by which Forsaken sent him, and why? Be'lal was dead, and so was Ishamael. No Forsaken or any of the Black Ajah's leaders were concerned with Liandrin or her group anymore (not yet, Moghedien eventually would grab them - of course). Mesaana was probably already in the Tower, but that is uncertain. Moiraine's messages to Siuan were intercepted. We know this because of the great delay before the Black Ajah let Siuan have any of them, and because they contained none of the information Moiraine told the girls she had sent to Siuan. All that reached Siuan was an apparently counterfeited message from Moiraine that told her Rand had Callandor and she was with him. The Black Ajah let Siuan have it right before she was deposed: it became the rope with which Siuan hanged herself. Elaida had planted all the seeds about this conspiracy between Siuan and Moiraine, and when Siuan made her announcement to the Hall she brought all the confirmation the conspirators neeeded. We even know for sure the Black Ajah, not Elaida, intercepted the message, because Elaida never learned of Moiraine's warning about Mazrim Taim. Mesaana would have learned the Black Sisters have talked, so she may have been the one who decided to silence them. However, Liandrin and her group never seemed to concern her. If Mesaana is behind the assassinations, it's more likely to prevent Amico and Joyia from being sent to Tar Valon. Moiraine (it's unlikely Siuan would have admitted it was Accepted) uncovering the first Black sisters ever and sending them to the Hall for trial would have been a major political victory for Siuan, one that may have made some Sitters hesitate more to depose her.

There is another very good possibility. There is one Forsaken who has used the girls but had no further use for them, one Forsaken who we know was spying on Rand in Tear: Lanfear. For Lanfear, the time may very well have come to get rid of the girls - she may have become a bit tired of 'his harem' and they would be an hinderance, a distraction to Rand, when she came to seduce him - but she didn't want to antagonize Rand by using radical means that would turn him against her. A perfect way to achieve this would be to send them chasing the Black Ajah, something she knew quite a bit about, since she's the one who organized to have the girls go to Tear in TDR. Lanfear may have had one more reason not to want the Black Sisters to talk too much: in TDR, Egwene had a dream where she saw Liandrin laughing at them as they walked into a trap, and Lanfear laughing at Liandrin. It's fairly plain from this dream the 'tip' to capture the girls came to Liandrin from Lanfear (it should be noted Be'lal let them do it, but seemed to have no interest in the girls - he confessed to Rand his surprise that the girls could have been useful as a bait, that was RJ's confirmation to the reader to look elsewhere for the culprit). Lanfear had witnessed first how the Pattern shaped itself around Rand and his friends when they were together at Falme. Sending the girls to the Stone, even as captives, was sending Rand allies. She urged Mat to leave the Tower too, and urged Perrin to go forward and "seek glory" when Ishamael tried to make him turn away. It is well to remember that the Forsaken who attracted Rand to Callandor was Lanfear (not Be'lal - who didn't think at the end Rand would show up so soon - he was caught by surprise, with the BA scattered all over the place etc.), as was revealed late in the book, when she started appearing as Selene in the dreams and enticed Rand to take Callandor. In the beginning, she sent dreams of the Sword only).

RJ may very well have left a clue that the one who had Amico and Joyia killed by Slayer (the tel'aran'rhiod assassin she also seemed to have sent to kill Ishamael's Gray Men who were to kill Egwene and Nynaeve in the Tower) was Lanfear. The clue would be to reveal to us her motive: convince the girls what Joyia and Amico said was true, thus having them go after either Taim or Tanchico and away from Rand. Elayne, who is in 'Game of Houses' mode and quite clever at seing the hidden motives in this scene, puzzles ut out and (as often when characters are right in The Wheel of Time), decided not to bring up so a twisted conclusion aloud, when it meant someone could be manipulating them, again: Elayne swallowed, thinking of being in a cell, having your face pressed to the door so your tongue could be pulled out and... She shivered, but made herself say,

"They might have been killed simply to punish them for being captured." She left out her thought that the killing might have been to make them believe whatever Joiya and, Amico had said; they had enough doubts about what to do as it was"

.

Another interesting point is that we do not know who told Liandrin about the ter'angreal dangerous to Rand in Tanchico, and if any Forsaken sent her after it. I suggest Lanfear (without revealing herself) could also be the one who gave the tip to Liandrin. That may have been meant to tempt Be'lal in sending some of his thirteen to Tanchico, thus not having the full circle as he planned to when Rand came (IMHO, Be'lal's real plan was to turn Rand to the Shadow using the BA and Myrddraal before he got him to take and give him Callandor). The Forsaken (Moghedien at least), know this ter'angreal is actually useless - because it's dangerous for the women holding the man. Again, Jordan may very well have given us a clue to reach this conclusion: we discover at the end of the book Lanfear has been in the Panarch's museum, because she reveals her knowledge of the broken ter'angreal Access Key that is found there. The Lanfear solution is elegant, because obviously it was all goose chase and she wouldn't have told Liandrin where exactly to find the object, just that it was in Tanchico. This would also explain why neither Alviarin nor the other Forsaken seemed to have any interest in Liandrin after Tear.

The Shadow Rising Read through #5 - Like a hell-broth boil and bubble

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble

by Linda


The Dark One, representing the evil side of everything, including witchcraft, tries to disrupt the Pattern with what have been described as ‘bubbles of evil’ that warp reality.

At first, his touch being weak, the Dark One sensibly aimed the bubbles squarely at the three ta’veren – their very ta’veren-ness probably making this process easier. The very first bubble hit Rand:

The wind howled across the tower . . . and trapped him. It was as if the air had suddenly jelled, holding him in a cocoon. Pushing him forward. Time and motion slowed; horrified, he watched Lan's practice sword drift toward his chest. There was nothing slow or soft about the impact. His ribs creaked as if he had been struck with a hammer. He grunted, but the wind would not allow him to give way; it still carried him forward, instead.
The lathes of Lan's practice sword flexed and bent - ever so slowly, it seemed to Rand - then shattered, sharp points oozing toward his heart, jagged lathes piercing his skin. Pain lanced through his body; his whole skin felt slashed. He burned as though the sun had flared to crisp him like bacon in a pan.
With a shout, he threw himself stumbling back, falling against the stone wall. Hand trembling, he touched the gashes on his chest and raised bloody fingers before his gray eyes in disbelief.
"And what was that fool move, sheepherder?" Lan grated. "You know better by now, or should unless you have forgotten everything I've tried to teach you. How badly are you - ?" He cut off as Rand looked up at him.
"The wind." Rand's mouth was dry. "It - it pushed me! It . . . It was solid as a wall!"
The Warder stared at him in silence, then offered a hand. Rand took it and let himself be pulled to his feet.
"Strange things can happen this close to the Blight," Lan said finally, but for all the flatness of the words he sounded troubled. That in itself was strange.

The Great Hunt, The Flame of Tar Valon

While Borderlanders such as Lan are used to their lands being close enough to the sealed Bore to be affected by the Dark One’s influence, this was a strange enough occurrence to trouble Lan. And it takes something significant to trouble Lan.

It was not until the second bubble spectacularly burst in Tear in The Shadow Rising, that their nature became more obvious. All three ta’veren were affected simultaneously, and with witnesses present.

A cock crows in the middle of the night – a sign of a false dawn, and believed by all to be an omen that someone is going to die - and, as the chapter title says, a whirlpool forms in the Pattern.

Perrin was attacked by his axe. Its murderous fury goes when Perrin 'disarms' his axe by burying it in the door.

Earlier, Mat the trickster is tricked by Rhuarc into asking the Maidens how to play Maiden's Kiss. The gamester was outplayed for once. In an Alice in Wonderland scene, the rulers on Mat’s playing cards come to life. How appropriate that Mat, who fears the One Power so, is attacked first by the Amyrlin card. Mat knifes the three animated cards to stop their attack.

Rand is attacked by images of himself. They step out of mirrors and polished silver; anything that reflects. The three reflections don't cooperate, each wants to take over Rand's body for itself, a sure sign the Shadow is involved, or that the reflections bear the essence of the Shadow, since the Shadow is always uncooperative. One tries to suck Rand’s life force, but he absorbs it and then draws up the life of his remaining reflections.

Moiraine suggests the attack was caused by evil leaking from the Dark One's prison as the Seals weaken:

“Not one of the Forsaken,” Moiraine cut in. “I think not. This was too simple. And too complex.”
Rand spoke calmly. “No riddles, Moiraine. If not the Forsaken, who? Or what?”
The Aes Sedai’s face could have done for an anvil, yet she hesitated, feeling her way. There was no telling whether she was unsure of the answer or deciding how much to reveal.
“As the seals holding the Dark One’s prison weaken,” she said after a time, “it may be inevitable that a ... miasma ... will escape even while he is still held. Like bubbles rising from the things rotting on the bottom of a pond. But these bubbles will drift through the Pattern until they attach to a thread and burst.”
“Light!” It slipped out before Perrin could stop it. Moiraine’s eyes turned to him. “You mean what happened to . . . to Rand is going to start happening to everybody?”
“Not to everyone. Not yet, at least. In the beginning I think there will only be a few bubbles, slipping through cracks the Dark One can reach through. Later, who can say? And just as ta’veren bend the other threads in the Pattern around them, I think perhaps ta’veren will tend to attract these bubbles more powerfully than others do.” Her eyes said she knew Rand was not the only one to have had a waking nightmare. A brief touch of a smile, there and gone almost before he saw it, said he could keep silent if he wished to hold it secret from others. But she knew. “Yet in the months to come-the years, should we be lucky enough to have that long-I fear a good many people will see things to give them white hairs, if they survive.”

The Shadow Rising, Reflection

It is indeed a time for reflection.

The effects of the bubble are similar to a trap in Tel'aran'rhiod: each of the men fights what they each hate or fear, yet depend on most.

Rand is afraid of his role as doomed saviour/Dragon and of his destiny to break the world. He is afraid of himself and what he could do to those around him.

Perrin is afraid of his berserker tendencies and lust to kill. The destructive side of his nature is represented by his axe and this is what he eventually ends up casting aside lest it corrupt him. At this stage he barely manages to control it; as we saw in first his mental struggles, and then, as the bubble hit and the axe turned on him, literal struggle.

Mat, whose fears seem almost trivial beside those of Rand and Perrin, is afraid of the One Power (represented by the Amyrlin) and of his luck not being there, and he really dislikes nobility (rulers of the suits).

Incidentally, the omen was wrong: no one died.

By Knife of Dreams, bubbles of evil are almost commonplace.