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The Importance Of What Is Important
by Linda
After spending some time looking through the Great Holding of Tear, Moiraine finally mentions Perrin and the possibility he and his companion were in danger to the girls. Egwene wants to know who Perrin’s companion is, Nynaeve wants to know of the danger he might be in.
Moiraine found a Seal unbroken in the Holding and thinks it is significant, more important than Perrin. The three previous Seals were broken. Mat thinks the Seals are not important. Everyone has different ideas about what is important:
“And this time unbroken,” Nynaeve said. “For the first time, the seal is unbroken. As if that mattered, now.”Only Moiraine wonders about why the Seal isn’t broken this time and why this time is different to the other times. (A notable difference is that this time Ishamael died.)
“You think it does not?” Moiraine’s voice was dangerous in its quiet, and the other women frowned at her.
Mat rolled his eyes. They kept talking about unimportant things.
- The Dragon Reborn, People of the Dragon
Mat asks pertinent questions about prophecy being fulfilled. Are they the People of the Dragon? Moiraine says she wasn’t trying to fulfill prophecies, only to keep Rand alive:
“Perhaps,” Moiraine said slowly. “I came to stop Be’lal from killing Rand. I did not expect to see the Stone of Tear fall. Perhaps we are. Prophecies are fulfilled as they are meant to be, not as we think they should be.”Yet in the next book she will try to fulfill a prophecy – that of the city lost and forsaken – and gets it wrong. It takes quite a while before she accepts to leave the Pattern alone.
- The Dragon Reborn, People of the Dragon
Moiraine also reasons out that Rand didn’t kill the Dark One and that Ba’alzamon was human, since he left a body. Egwene then corroborates that with what she saw in Verin’s piece of ancient manuscript that linked Ba’alzamon with Ishamael. The women strengthen their resolve to continue the war. Berelain’s message from Lanfear helps.
Most uncharacteristically, Moiraine gives out the information to this small group that Mat is the Hornsounder. Mat assures them they can count on him while privately thinking of doing a runner. The trickster in him is suddenly uppermost.
3 comments:
Yes but, quatitatively, exactly how important is the importance of what is important? Say on a scale of 1 to 10?
Mat seems to think the level of importance of what is important is quite low - maybe 1 or 2, given how he thinks that what Nynaeve and Moiraine think is important is, in fact, unimportant. However, when Moiraine mentions something he considers important, Mat privately considers "taking a runner", as you so eloquently noted, making his ability to rank the importance of what is important somewhat suspect.
Moiraine, on the other hand, seems to think the level of importance of what is important is quite high - maybe 8 or 9, given how she quietly but dangerously questions Nynaeve's assertion that what is important is really not so important, and in fact doesn't matter now, adopting a similar position on the importance of what is important as Mat, which, if she where aware of what she was doing, would probably make her stop and question her own evaluation of the imporance of what is important, and perhaps come to a different conclusion more in line with Moiraine's, which, let's be honest, most sane characters should probably do when confronted by a situation in which they find themselves agreeing with Mat instead of Moiraine.
Personally, I'm going to have to side with Moiraine on this issue, and maybe rank it an 8. The only thing more imporant that what is important is what is REALLY important, for which I reserve the ranks of 9 and 10.
:)
:D
Egwene wanted to know who Perrin's companion was. That was the least important thing compared to the prophecies, the whole Seal and the danger Perrin and she might be in.
Moiraine is still underestimating Perrin's importance. he's at least as important as the Great Holding of Tear. I agree with Nynaeve that Perrin shouldn't be disregarded or left in danger. Moiraine has always valued things according to their perceived power.
It was certainly important that they worked out it was Ishy that was killed and that they must not rest on their laurels but keep on fighting.
And it's vital that Moiraine leave the prophecies alone. She wanted to keep Rand from reading them, but she was the one who got the wrong idea from them.
Mat can't be trusted; I agree. But he does ask good questions - though they are mainly to assess what danger he might be in now and the future. He was shifty at the end of this chapter, wasn't he?
Egwene wanted to know who Perrin's companion was. That was the least important thing compared to the prophecies, the whole Seal and the danger Perrin and she might be in.
Yes, but her question signifies the close friendship she and Perrin established when they were with the Tinkers in EotW. It's too bad that subplot fizzled out - I enjoyed reading their interactions during that time. I understand why it had to, given the roles the two had to play from there on, but I'm hoping it resurfaces to play a role in AMoL.
Moiraine is still underestimating Perrin's importance. he's at least as important as the Great Holding of Tear. I agree with Nynaeve that Perrin shouldn't be disregarded or left in danger. Moiraine has always valued things according to their perceived power.
Agreed. It's a bit odd, actually, given how she regards, in the same scene, the importance of Mat. Maybe the reason is simply that Mat was there while Perrin was not; that is, she felt comfortable talking about Mat's importance because he was there, whereas she felt less comfortable talking about Perrin's importance behind his back, so to speak.
It was certainly important that they worked out it was Ishy that was killed and that they must not rest on their laurels but keep on fighting.
Definitely.
And it's vital that Moiraine leave the prophecies alone. She wanted to keep Rand from reading them, but she was the one who got the wrong idea from them.
Yep.
Mat can't be trusted; I agree. But he does ask good questions - though they are mainly to assess what danger he might be in now and the future. He was shifty at the end of this chapter, wasn't he?
Yeah, he was. He's loyal (in his fashion) to his friends (it made me chuckle when he thought to himself that, had he known a Forsaken was in Tear, he'd never have come, and then, after looking at Egwene & Nynaeve & Elayne, amended that thought to, he would still have come, but would have been much sneekier about it :) ), but he has no concern whatsoever for Moiraine's cause.
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