A Memory of Light Read-through #33: Chapter 30—The Way of the Predator

By Linda

Perrin POV

The chapter title is about testing to find the weakness in your opponent. Perrin is referring to Slayer, but we see little of him in this chapter.

Perrin is searching for Graendal, who found the weakness of the Light’s armies: there is only one person devising the strategy for each army. Corrupt them and they lose the battle and the army. At first, Perrin assumed that Graendal was giving orders to Darkfriends in the camps to sabotage the battle, but her plan is more effective.

Quite a bit of time has elapsed, and Perrin is frustrated that they have to rely on others to leave Tel’aran’rhiod. It is difficult to get the timing right and meet up, when time flows very differently in each place, and he considers following Graendal through her gateway to return to the waking world. He senses a similarity between taking a gateway out of Tel’aran’rhiod and waking up.

Seeing his old friend Elyas out of context was disconcerting; it takes Perrin quite a while to recognise him in a place he normally doesn’t go. Elyas has avoided Tel’aran’rhiod because it is dangerous, but all places are dangerous now and everyone has to do their bit.

It takes Perrin little time to put a few snippets of information together and realise Graendal is corrupting the minds of the Great Captains to undermine their armies. Elyas is to wake up and warn the other leaders, and save Ituralde.


Rand POV

The essence of the Dark One is a cold expanse of darkness, infinite and empty like a black hole. Wind surges into the void. The black hole analogy will become stronger as the wind also strengthens and tries to suck everything in along with it. Nynaeve’s eyes are closed in endurance, but Moiraine is determined to witness.

Rand is using Callandor—the sword that is not a sword—in a sword fight. Lews Therin Telamon was always better than Moridin at fencing, and Rand feels more confident after practising fighting one-handed so effectively with his father. (In some ways, that was the least that he was taught in that session, as we will see). Both men are now bleeding on the rocks of Shayol Ghul—another similarity, another link.

The terrain has been changing while the men fight, to help Moridin catch Rand off guard, and also to push Rand into the Dark One’s nothingness, which he eventually does, for the second stage of this battle. All goes black for Rand as he contacts the Dark One’s void.

Elayne POV

Elayne’s army is on the verge of collapse with exhaustion, nearly overrun. The dragons are out of ammunition, but her channellers are too exhausted to make gateways for supplies. Worse, Elayne’s army can’t retreat because they have insufficient space and would be slaughtered as they pull back.

Logain and a hundred Asha’man arrive, a comparison with Lews Therin and the Hundred Companions at the end of the War of Power. They have joined Elayne because they found the Shadow’s battle plans in Taim’s study.

Logain’s eyes are darker than they once were, but not “wrong”. His whole being is very dark but the Turning to the Shadow was not completed so he may be restored. After all: “There is no person so dark that they cannot come back to the Light…” Of course, once Turning is completed, the person cannot be brought back to the Light by natural means.

Elayne’s words that:

"We must retreat—unless you can produce a miracle, Lord Logain."

- A Memory of Light, The Way of the Predator

make Logain smile not because she acknowledged his rank—birth and earned—but because he thinks they can produce a miracle.

A balanced circle of 14 women and 13 men—the strongest type of circle—performs a “great work”. Such a magnum opus is legendary these days. They will perform their own miracle, contrasting with the lack of cooperation between the sexes at the end of the War of Power in the Age of Legends. Both Lews Therin and Logain turned the tide of battle.

Elayne tends to think that strength is the most important factor in a channeller. This is understandable since she has been trained by Aes Sedai—all too well. She also assumes that Androl is not able to do much, and is likely susceptible to being overwhelmed by the power. It’s easy to see in her doubt the start of the Aes Sedai discounting weaker channellers in everything. Furthermore, even numb with exhaustion, she finds Pevara’s affection for a man shocking in a Red. The usual Aes Sedai judgments and stereotypes have already been swallowed wholesale.

Just as Leane is able to achieve as much as she used to by channelling cleverly, so does Androl. Making Gateways to a volcano magma chamber is a brilliant idea and he has the amazing talent to bring it off. Extra Asha’man outside the circle fan the lava and heat away from the humans and blow Trollocs into the flow.

After his feat, Androl is exhausted and surprised that the equally exhausted Elayne immediately plans to fight on. They must wipe out all the Shadowspawn. Elayne is determined and courageous (like a Green); and this is also the right tactic; one side of winning the war is exterminating the Shadowpawn. The other side is Rand winning his battle. They are interdependent, and every win on each side literally advances the other.