Memory of Light Read-through #43: Chapter 37—The Last Battle Part 4

By Linda

Mat POV

The scene of Mat sitting on a dead Trolloc to rest and have a drink of water is a reference to Jordan being called “iceman” in Vietnam:

I have, or used to have, a photo of a young man sitting on a log eating C-rations with a pair of chopsticks. There are three dead NVA laid out in a line just beside him. He didn't kill them. He didn't choose to sit there because of the bodies. It was just the most convenient place to sit. The bodies don't bother him. He doesn't care. They're just part of the landscape. The young man is glancing at the camera, and you know in one look that you aren't going to take this guy home to meet your parents. Back in the world, you wouldn't want him in your neighborhood, because he is cold, cold, cold. I strangled that SOB, drove a stake through his heart, and buried him face down under a crossroad outside Saigon before coming home, because I knew that guy wasn't made to survive in a civilian environment.

Robert Jordan on his blog, April 26th 2007

Demandred didn’t fall for trickster Mat’s bait and kept the Sharans in reserve. The Raven Prince feels that his luck ran well when it didn’t matter, but is in short supply when it is desperately needed—like now. When totally beset, he becomes all the more determined, ike any other stubborn Two Rivers person. The Light’s armies are finally fully unified, but all must hold and with a resolved Mat at their head they have their best chance.

Olver POV

This scene is about people not being what they seem. Olver thinks he can manipulate or trick people better than Mat does. Aravine and Faile put on convincing acts for the Darkfriends—and even the genuine Darkfriend adopted a fake style to fool Faile a little longer. It is Olver, ignored, who kills the Black Sister, thereby freeing the others from Aravine’s betrayal.

Leane POV

Leane has learned that strength in the Power isn’t everything. Skill means a great deal. Of course, when both are present, a channeller can be truly impressive, as Leane observes when Egwene weaves twelve separate weaves simultaneously.

The Aes Sedai are stunned by the number and fighting skill of the Sharan channellers. (Again, a reflection of their delusion that they were the only proficient channellers.) There must have been a lot of fighting among channellers in Shara to account for their prowess—a society like the Seanchan feared, and mistakenly imputed to Aes Sedai. Damane also fight well—but at a non-channeller’s direction; they are not independent. Only Egwene, who was damane for a short while, but long enough for a fair bit of training, can match them. Leane is shocked by something momentous like the Sharans, but also by something comparatively less earth-shattering: her discovery that a Red Sitter wants to learn the Domani seduction techniques.

Talmanes POV

As a non-channeller, Talmanes can’t understand how an Asha’man would know of a fully enclosed cavern. He sensed it with Earth.

Talamanes’ humour is very dark and most of the men don’t recognise it.

Faile POV

Faile realises that her mistaken distrust of Harnan and Vanin brought disaster upon her group. However, it may well have happened anyway.

After killing Aravine, Faile gets Olver to take the Horn to Mat while she bravely acts as a decoy.

Logain POV

Logain gives Androl his own dragon pin in acknowledgement of his accomplishment. He doesn’t trust Gabrelle, thinking her concern is fake, and an attempt to manipulate him. His hatred of Aes Sedai kept him going after being gentled and his psychological state was further eroded by the attempted Turnings.

The Aes Sedai is impressed at his courage in going to fight Demandred. However, he has an additional motive: he lusts for the sa’angreal that Demandred has.

Ila POV

Ila and Raen have suffered privations in the last year, but feel Aram’s loss far more. She is dismayed that Raen is looking at a quiver of arrows. Raen realises that the Way of the Leaf won’t save them from the Shadow and if the Dark One remakes the world it will be worse than any suffering they have known. Moreover, they can’t run away from the Shadow if the Dark One wins. The Tinker realises they can only follow the Way if others protect them, as the first Aiel protected the Jenn, whom the Tinkers were once part of—and so the Tinkers come full circle. At first Ila hopes this is a temporary depression, but Raen has some realisation that the Tinkers owe a debt to the fighters, and that the fighters’ actions are not evil.

This insight inspires Ila to reassess the rejection of Aram, who had realised that he could have saved his mother from the Trollocs if he fought them, when the Tinnkers tradition of non-violence ensured her death.

The Way of the Leaf does not have all the answers.

Olver POV

Alone with the Horn, Olver feels abandoned all over again. He had thought himself tough—and so he is, but in this horrific situation is rightly terrified. One does not exclude the other.

Noble Bela didn’t throw Olver in terror as most horses would have when near Trollocs. Olver thinks Bela is dead, but the Companion says she survived and lived in retirement in the Two Rivers. Previously, Harriet had insisted that Bela died, but implied at a booksigning that she became a Hero of the Horn. Bela is Harriet’s favourite character.

Logain POV

Logain thought that he could match Demandred because he assumed his opponent would be tired from all his channelling, but the Forsaken whipped him. One positive outcome of the clash is that he realises Gabrelle’s concern for him is real. (What she dislikes is their unequal, forced bonding and it may be that she Bonds him in turn ultimately.) For himself, Logain is humiliated almost to the point of despair.

Berelain POV

The First will ask gai’shain to help retrieve the wounded form the battlefield, contrary to ji’e’toh. Since they are pledged to non-violence, it would be a major sacrifice of their honour. Annoura sacrifices herself to rescue the wounded Galad, to atone her treatment of Berelain. Burning out can’t be Healed because the channeller’s connection to the Source is destroyed, not merely cut.

Rand POV

Watching over everyone, Rand feels responsible for all the deaths, that he should have been able to save them. The Dark One tries to make Rand despair as he is crushed by grief and responsibility. Rand’s awareness extends to all, even Nyaneve attending to Alanna.

Taim POV

Taim sneers at Demandred obsessively wasting energy calling for Rand, but the newest Forsaken was bested by Egwene. Demandred uses meditation to restore himself to freshness, which explains why Logain did not find him tired. Taim is impressed with Demandred’s presence in spite of himself. Demandred loans Taim Sakharnen, but convinces Taim that the sa’angreal is bonded to Demandred and can’t be used against him. Taim can’t believe Demandred would hand over such an object of the Power to anyone. The Shadow’s general reminds Taim of their orders to use balefire.

Elayne POV

Elayne oscillates between feeling she isn’t doing much for her troops, who don’t even know that she lives, and thinking she could be more useful fighting with the Aes Sedai.

Mellar (aka Hanlon) and his darkfriends have tricked their way close to Elayne. Their plans are to cut Elayne’s babies from her womb and take them to Shayol Ghul for the Dark One to torment Rand. This is not exactly the ultimate version of Birgitte’s warning that horrible things could happen to Elayne and her babies could still be born OK, since they wouldn’t be healthy, at best living for an hour, but it highlights Birgitte’s good sense.

Rand POV

The Dark One’s world-building scenario is the void, nothingness, this time. Rand could accept that for himself, but not for the whole world. Nothingness is what Moridin desires, but Rand thinks Moridin is wrong. Peace does not equal nothing. Nor is nothing “everything” like the Dark One says.

Min POV

Yulan criticises Mat’s generalship strongly, while being careful to not criticise Tuon’s choice of him as her consort. The Truthspeaker is horrified that she is thinking of what she sees and does in Seanchan terms. It’s a sign that she is fitting into their society as well as Mat has. Both will change it, both are being changed by it.

Beslan and Tylee press to go back to the Last Battle, while Galgan is uncertain. Tuon is troubled by Yulan’s scouts’ reports and fears that returning is what feels good rather than what is strategic.

Min makes some excellent deductions from her viewings and flushes out Moghedien. Just as importantly, she adds to the pressure on Tuon to return to the battle.

Egwene POV

Taim uses balefire to undo all the work Egwene’s forces have done in the last few hours. She thinks about what Perrin said and about the necessity for balance in the Pattern and weaves the Flame of Tar Valon, opposite of balefire. The weave is so positive that it eases her pain from Gawyn’s death. Equal to balefire at first, the flame weave is the stronger—plus Egwene was able to be reckless with the amount of power she drew, due to her sa’angreal having no buffer.

The Amyrlin almost senses that a black hole could open in the area soon:

Black lines radiated across the Heights, and her mind's eye saw them opening, the land shattering, and a void appearing here that sucked into it all life.

A Memory of Light, The Last Battle

This is the danger of balefire: it destroys the Pattern, leaving Nothing.

After separating herself for Leilwin, she finishes off all the Sharans with the flame of Tar Valon weave, expending her body energy in the process. Witnessing this, Rand is overcome with even more grief and guilt.

Mat POV

Even with the Sharan channellers gone, Mat’s troops are outnumbered by the Trollocs. Symbolically, he raises the Age of Legends Aes Sedai banner, the unbalanced yin-yang symbol. (“Under this sign shall he (Rand) conquer”…) When all seems grim, he gets news that the Seanchan will come back. They will return; just as it was important that Mat return to Sindhol to rescue Moiraine and subsequently return to Tuon (who herself prosecutes the Return). There is a strong theme of “I will return” in the Mat-Tuon story line, a reference to General Macarthur, a parallel of Mat, declaring “I will return” to re-take territory invaded by Japan in World War II. It’s also a reference to Persephone (or Kore, which is one of Tuon’s names) spending time between her mother Demeter above ground and her husband Hades (a parallel of Mat) in the underworld. In this case, it is Mat who splits his time between his wife and his homeland.

Mat would almost rather Tuon stayed safe. She is returning to help him despite misgivings that she would gain more politically by letting the Aes Sedai be damaged by the Shadow. But there is no safety anywhere. It’s obvious that they can’t win the Battle while Demandred is alive, even if he no longer has the sa’angreal.

Loial POV

Loial pretends he will get to write his book, but believes he won’t live to do it. Nevertheless, he intends to witness Lan’s fight. Sadly, this happened to Jordan, who did not live to complete his series.

Tam POV

Rand’s father helps Lan get through the Trolloc barrier by raining fire arrows on them, and has one of the best lines of the book in my opinion:

"Let's give Lord Mandragoran a little something to guide his way!"

A Memory of Light, The Last Battle

He is given…Light.

Lan POV

A small thing that had huge consequences was Lan’s offer to check whether there were Healed troops in Mayene, resulting in him intercepting Berelain’s note to Mat with the weave-stopping medallion. The best of the knights seizes the opportunity to duel the Forsaken. But first he must get through the Trollocs, impossible in itself except that Tam helped. Like Tam, Lan is completely within the void. He immediately wounds Demandred.

Rand POV

Rand is witness to everyone dying and desperate. He feels a failure until he is prompted to let go. His father’s words save his sanity, while the man himself enables Lan to save the Last Battle.

Lan POV

One with the Land in the void, Lan is a stand-in for his protégé Rand, while Rand fights a greater duel for the Land.

Demandred demands Lan’s name, but, unlike Gawyn and Galad, Lan refuses to reveal his identity, in violation of chivalric code and protocol, saying he is just a man and one who is there to kill Demandred. This is a way of showing contempt to this evil person. In New Spring, Lan is disgusted when an arrogant Tairen noble (as it turned out, a Darkfriend—probably Weiramon) passes him orders in the Aiel War without introducing himself first. The duel is very Arthurian. Demandred is a parallel of Meleagaunt, who was a treacherous enemy of King Arthur’s court that duelled Sir Lancelot (a parallel of Lan) three times, and was killed by him in their last duel. Rather than fight Lan three times, Demandred duelled three different knights with Arthurian names, falling to Lan last. Three is the most important number in the series.

Amazingly, Lan dodged Demandred’s diversions and did not let them disrupt his attacks at all. Demandred is shocked. Lan reads him like a book. In contrast, Demandred assumes Lan came to win, but he came to kill him, expecting to die also, and fulfilled his aim.

And so ends the longest chapter in this series, with a huge number of POVS. The quick changes of POV in the second half of the Last Battle chapter speed up the action and stop the reader feeling bogged down, but instead, hit with woe upon woe.

Towers of Midnight Read-through #50: Chapter 43 - Some Tea

By Linda

This chapter is more about showing the development of relationships rather than events.


Galad POV

Galad and Perrin continue to find common ground, which promises well for the alliance they make. Galad appears to have rejected the Cairhienin custom of scheming and dissembling in favour of candour:

Others often responded with anger when Galad said what he thought, but he was coming to realize that he didn't need to hold himself back with Perrin. This man responded well to honesty.

Towers of Midnight, Some Tea

I guess Galad is following his Andoran heritage; even though some think he goes too far. With Aes Sedai being as great at, or greater than, scheming as Cairhienin, Cadsuane uses candour as a trap or a weapon:

Cadsuane preferred to be direct, when possible. She had tripped up any number of clever people who had not believed she meant exactly what she said.

The Path of Daggers, New Alliances

Cadsuane and Galad are both considered annoying, or at least heavy-going, by many people around them; they are both competent with very high standards. Another thing they have in common is that the groups they lead have been regarded as pariahs by the populace – and with good reason.

Like Perrin, Galad may be direct, but he is not naive. He is now more conscious that Aes Sedai Healing can come with strings. Not particularly so the aid of the Wise Ones, though, except for creating greater obligations to Perrin and straying from Whitecloak beliefs. These are considerations Galad didn’t have to worry about when he was a noble without an official position.

He'd allowed an Aes Sedai to Heal him. "Once you've committed your reserves, there's no use holding back your scouts," Gareth Bryne was fond of saying. If he was going to let Aes Sedai save his men, then he might as well accept their Healing.
Once, accepting Aes Sedai Healing hadn't bothered him nearly so much.

Towers of Midnight, Some Tea

It is true that the Whitecloaks were already saved by channelling, so Galad may as well have further channelling save more of them.

While Perrin talks to Galad about trust, Galad is wondering if Perrin is trustworthy:

"And these Asha'man claim they are free of the taint?" Galad asked, as he and Perrin Aybara picked their way through the aftermath of the battle.
"They do," Perrin said. "And I've a mind to trust them. Why would they lie?"
Galad raised an eyebrow. "Insanity?"…
"Perhaps," Perrin said. "Perhaps the Asha'man are mad, and the taint isn't cleansed. But they've served me well, and I figure they've earned the right to be trusted until they show me otherwise. You and your men might well owe your lives to Grady and Neald."…

"Either you are a Darkfriend of unsurpassed cunning, or you really did as you said-coming to save my men despite your treatment at our hands. In that case, you are a man of honor.”

Towers of Midnight, Some Tea

By the same token, Perrin has earned the right to be trusted, after organising the rescue of the Whitecloaks. While letting Whitecloaks die would have made Perrin’s life easier, he wants them alive if only to fight at the Last Battle. As is typical of Perrin, he is concentrating on what is important, rather than convenient in the short term. As the Whitecloaks also should.

Galad insists each Whitecloak be given the choice of accepting Healing or not -- a conscience vote. In an earlier battle, each Aiel was given this choice, yet now the Wise Ones are peeved if their ministrations are refused. Perhaps they too are focussed on what is important. Galad is impressed the Wise Ones listen to Perrin; it seems they weren’t listening to him. Perrin accepted Galad’s insistence on choice even though he wants everyone who can fight the Shadow to do so, but does remind Galad that Travelling, Healing and battle weaves, are all forms of channelling. If one is accepted, why should not others?

Perrin will let Galad join him only if he takes oath that the Whitecloaks will go where told and fight when told. Galad didn’t reject the request out of hand, even though Perrin killed Children and may be a Darkfriend. Despite his belief that every fighter is needed, Perrin would not take the Whitecloaks with him without the oath. When Galad becomes convinced Perrin is good because of his compassion for the wounded and efforts to find and save them, he realises there is good reason to swear an oath. In turn, Perrin vows to look after the Whitecloaks like his other forces.

Once the deal is done, Galad feels weakened, which Perrin correctly identifies as a result of being pulled by a ta’veren. The Whitecloaks thought they encountered Perrin to punish him – because they had already judged him. Perrin says they met because he needed them (or the Pattern did); for Galad to fight Demandred and to hook up with Berelain, who will pass on the weave-breaking ter’angreal to Lan. And the Whitecloaks to be added to the Last Battle’s forces.


Alliandre POV

Berelain and Faile are acting friendly to change the camp’s opinion of Perrin, as they had agreed to do. Faile is annoyed that Berelain didn’t love Perrin, but just wanted to compete with Faile and win him. To Berelain, Perrin was just a thing to use.

Alliandre tries to persuade Berelain that Faile and Perrin should be together; she respects their marriage. On the other hand, Berelain thinks every relationship needs to be challenged, and thus her actions are justified. She suggests that she could have taken Faile’s place if Faile had died. From these words Alliandre assumes that Berelain has not given up on winning Perrin and is lulling Faile into a false sense of security by letting her annoyance show. Poor Alliandre is comically off the mark, as she sees when Galad shows up.

Berelain is actually thinking of better game – Galad. Her feelings are all stirred up because finally she is genuinely in love, though she rationalises her desires to herself as politically advantageous. “Romance is an unaffordable distraction” to Berelain, but nevertheless Berelain is swept up in it.

Alliandre is happy at the thought that the Whitecloaks would be out of Ghealdan. As a petty “reward” she keeps a silk shirt for herself instead of making it into bandages. The chapter ends on a trivial note.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #33: Chapter 26 - Parley

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Perrin POV

Dreamspikes do multiple things, not just block gateways, but they are valued for this one ability now. Presumably they were invented during the War of Power or late in the Collapse. I think the staleness that Perrin smells around an activated Dreamspike is from the flow of the Pattern being blocked.

To a wolf, one weapon is the same as another, but they are more discriminating about their foes. It is this exchange that highlights to Perrin the difference between the hammer and the axe – that one of them can be used to make as well as destroy. This is similar to the distinction the Jenn Aiel made during the Breaking regarding edged tools: a knife or spear can be used to obtain food, but a sword is only for killing. Perrin too is distinguishing between his foes. He is trying to avoid killing Whitecloaks so they can fight their common enemy, the Shadow. The difficulty is getting the Whitecloaks to understand the same. Some do, as we saw in earlier chapters, but, as in many groups, the extremists are more vocal than those with more moderation and understanding.

The best leaders often don’t want the responsibility given to them, or the trust lain in them, but they accept it. It is the latter that Perrin is taking so long to realise.

Perrin decides there should not be a battle, and asks the Wise Ones to help him prevent it. The Aes Sedai won’t do so; they see it as using the One Power as weapon, yet they would be using the One Power to prevent battle. I suspect the Aes Sedai were already disinclined to do this, not wanting to channel at Whitecloaks, and easily convinced themselves they were bound not to.

By showing the Whitecloaks he can really hurt them, Perrin bluffs them into being more malleable.


Galad POV

Galad also wants to prevent battle. He says it’s possible that they don’t understand what is going on, and wonders if he was influenced by Byar and Bornhald into misjudgement.

In this scene Min’s viewing of Berelain falling for a man in white is fulfilled, and returned on Galad’s side. Galad literally wears white, but the viewing could also encompass his purity as well. To a degree, Galad is amenable to Perrin’s suggestions because he wants to make a good impression on Berelain.

Galad notices that Perrin is a “woodsman risen to be a lord.” This is the King of the Wild motif of Perrin’s character (see Perrin essay). As befits a wild man, Perrin is as casual and blunt with Galad as he is with anybody. Even Niall might have had trouble turning his words into something else.

Galad can’t walk away without dealing justice. He is surprised Perrin is serving tea at a war parley, because he thinks it is inappropriate, since where there is such conflict, and lack of trust on both sides, the possibility of poisoned food and drink increases tension between parties.

The tea is a vehicle to introduce Morgase back into Galad’s life. Galad realises that he killed Valda for something Valda didn’t do – but still justifies it on the grounds that Valda deserved it for assaulting Morgase. Then he wonders if that is true. (It is, so Galad was right, but he couldn’t know that for sure. Naturally Valda did not tell Galad whether his sexual encounter with Morgase was forced.) Galad gave Valda a trial by combat under the Light, yet Galad doesn’t see the outcome as “proof” of Valda’s guilt. Once, Galad would have. Once, Galad would have accepted that the outcome of a trial under the Light shows whether the accused is guilty or not.

Interestingly, Perrin is not too shocked when told Morgase is his queen. Galad assumes Morgase abdicated after Perrin “captured” her, but it was after the Seanchan conquered the Whitecloaks and she gave forced consent to Valda. Morgase assures Galad that Perrin is not a Darkfriend, and Perrin that she will judge the trial fairly.

I thought Galad had great character development in this chapter:

I killed Valda, Galad thought immediately. Killed him for the death of my mother. Who is not dead. I have done evil.

Towers of Midnight, Parley

The perfect man has never been shown to be in error before – let alone to such a serious degree.

Galad insists there must be a trial – a fair one - and that the Whitecloaks must prove their claims. No longer is a trial by combat or battle enough in Galad’s eyes to prove guilt or innocence. His own error proved that to him. There must be evidence and a say from both sides.

Byar is forced to see reason and quiet his protests by Galad. It’s impressive that someone under Compulsion still respects Galad enough to go against their programming.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #25: Chapter 18 - The Strength Of This Place

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

While on the surface the chapter title appears to refer how to Hopper's advice to Perrin on how to operate successfully in Tel'aran'rhiod, on a deeper level it reminds us that each POV character's survival depends on using their utmost inner strength. They are conscious of that necessity in this chapter.


Perrin POV

With Faile at his side in a true partnership, Perrin can do anything. The corollary, as we saw, is that if she is not there, if she is withdrawn from him in some way, he loses much confidence and purpose. Perhaps he needs to depend on her less.

He has to deal with the Whitecloaks:

He was increasingly certain—confident, even—that he could not continue until he had confronted these shadows from the past.

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

and clear away unfinished business. The temptation to destroy the Whitecloaks with his channellers is considerable because in some ways it would do people a favour:

No more fear in the land, no more Whitecloak mock trials.

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

Whitecloaks like everything tidy and ordered, and this includes people. A more ethical solution would be to pull them into society. Like the Aes Sedai they are so antithetical to, the Whitecloaks hold themselves apart, and consequently their behaviour as a group is selfish, even pathological.

Balwer has told Perrin that Galad has the bulk of the remaining Children, but he hasn’t told Perrin who he used to be, or explained how he knows this stuff. Perrin just accepts him as he is – as wolves do.

Perrin is peeved with himself for not trying to find Faile in the dream as he has the Whitecloaks. But this is an error: in Winter’s Heart, Flags, he did try to find Faile in the dream when she was first captured, but that was before the Shaido camped in one place for any length of time and so they did not show there. Hopper sent Perrin back before his body died and when he awoke he found himself in Berelain’s tent, and the rumours started. When the Shaido were in Malden, he could have found her in Tel’aran’rhiod, and could have used “need” to speed up his search of the very large camp.

Hopper sneaks up on Perrin in the dream, showing him that his focus is too narrow. Perrin tells Hopper he’s ready to learn, but then Hopper realises Perrin can’t copy what wolves do. For one thing, Perrin doesn’t have wolf memories. A cub isn’t learning from nothing, it is being ‘reminded’, its memories woken.

Just as the Dreamwalkers did with Egwene, Hopper tries to explain to Perrin that the body sleeps while his mind dreams and if his mind comes into Tel’aran’rhiod too strongly it doesn’t go back to his body. Also, if he stays too long and ignores his body’s needs he dies.

Wolves accept men/things as they are, but then have no insight into how they work. People determine how things work so they can change them.

Hopper takes Perrin to Emond’s Field to instruct him to use it as his image of home to keep from over-projecting in the dream. But home to Perrin is now where Faile is. Symbolic of this, Emond’s Field has changed a lot since he last saw it. Strength in Tel’aran’rhiod is personal strength of mind, so that you do what you want, and not what someone else wants. Balance is the key as everywhere: always be ready for an attack, but never hold on too strong.

They encounter Wrongness, as Hopper describes it, (or an example of it, see essay) – a violet dome which is the dreamspike being tested.


Ituralde POV

As a tribute to Ituralde’s generalship, he stymied the Shadowspawn attack enough that they have set up trebuchets at the river ford rather than outside Maradon.

Ituralde believed Rand’s promises to bring aid to him and to protect Arad Doman from Seanchan:

Promises that Ituralde could live, rather than die trapped by the Seanchan. Promises to give him something to do, something important, something vital. Something impossible.

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

Odd, how he was always retreating toward his homeland. First from the south, now from the northeast.
Arad Doman would be crushed between the Seanchan and the Trollocs. You'd better keep your word, boy.

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

In a way, Ituralde is still defending his homeland, since he is achieving more than Rand, but he won’t live to do anything to Rand if no aid comes. Unfortunately the Saldaeans are not helping him. The Saldaean lord won’t let him into Maradon:

What kind of idiots denied men refuge when an army of Shadowspawn was knocking on their gates?

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

Or ignore a Shadowspawn invasion? The answer, as we learn, is Darkfriends.

As the Domani notice:

"This whole bloody war is wrong," Rajabi said. "We shouldn't be here; it should be the Saldaeans. Their whole army, not only the few horsemen the Lord Dragon gave us."

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

It is part of the Shadow’s tactics to weaken people and nations both physically and mentally with chaos and Wrongness.


Faile POV

Faile and Perrin are comfortable in the Wild:

In some ways, the grassy hilltop had been more comfortable than their tent.

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

which is why they re-cemented their marriage there. They represent the King and Queen of the Wild.

Faile is intimidated by Berelain’s beauty but gains confidence from the knowledge that Perrin loves her. She is convinced Berelain was behind the rumours her maids spread. Rumour is way to rule from a position of weakness. This scene is an exercise for Faile in keeping calm and a cool head while appearing to Berelain to be hot-headed.

Being blunt puts Berelain off-balance, and is a tactic that Cadsuane uses also.

Berelain thinks infidelity is no big deal for a ruler and so suggests that her false rumours about this aren’t that unethical. She discounts Faile’s assertion that Perrin is injured by his honour being impugned:

"He will overcome and he will learn to use rumor for his gain. That will make him stronger as a man and a ruler."

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

Berelain thinks all men are similar, and also that Faile made a marriage of convenience, and therefore the ‘prize’ Berelain has so long coveted is free to be taken from her. Faile convinces Berelain that she will fight her for the slight to Perrin’s honour (and her own).

This is part of the courtly love theme that runs through the Perrin/Faile/Berelain thread, only instead of two knights competing for a capricious lady’s favour, we have two capricious ladies vying for the same knight and thus supremacy over each other. Faile’s challenge (and she deliberately uses this term, which is part of the courtly love ritual) to Berelain over Perrin’s honour was a bluff, but her desire to repair Perrin’s reputation was real.

Had Faile not over-reacted to Berelain, challenging her and competing with her over Perrin, and discussed their marriage with Perrin to form a united front, Berelain could not have done the damage she did. It was not until her captivity forced her to grow that Faile realised her errors. I will discuss this more, particularly Berelain’s part, later in the read-through.

Once Faile issues her challenge, Berelain apparently backs off. Yet it is effectively a feint, since her first offer of appeasement – to chastise her maids for spreading rumours and announce nothing happened - is one that will do no good. Berelain obviously doesn’t want to give up on her game yet.

Faile is not sure if her bluff is called that she could win the fight. Yet a fight would also prove the rumours, as Faile knows; she is just trying to scare Berelain into voluntarily solving her problem. Faile deduces Berelain never expected Faile to escape the Shaido, and therefore made her move openly on Perrin. Berelain still thinks Perrin encouraged her, but Faile pooh-poohs this. She’s right, Berelain is looking for justification. Faile gives Berelain two choices:

"You can fight me, and one of us will die. You're right, that wouldn't end the rumors. But it would end your chances at Perrin. Either you'd be dead, or you'd be the woman who killed his wife.
"Your other choice," Faile said, meeting Berelain's eyes, "is to come up with a way to destroy these rumors once and for all. You caused this mess. You will fix it."

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place

Not surprisingly, Berelain chooses the second option and it doesn’t take her long to work out how to kill the rumours, even though Faile wracked her brains in vain for days. The solution is for the two women to convincingly appear friendly, plus for Berelain to formally renounce the rumours. Faile adds that Berelain has to give her attentions to another man.

The relative position of the two contenders – and the likely outcome of this lady-like joust – is indicated by how they address each other: Berelain calls Faile Lady Faile, whereas she calls her Berelain.

Berelain asks Faile if she can put on a convincing act. Faile smiles inwardly because she just did: to the unsuspecting Berelain.

One thing in Berelain’s tent that caught Faile’s eye is the rug with a “twisting ivy” pattern. Ivy symbolises fidelity, marital love and friendship. Being a particularly clinging and invasive vine that climbs over things to get sunlight, it also represents dependence and attachment. These are all issues in this chapter – Berelain has spread rumours against Perrin’s fidelity and tried to destroy Faile’s and Perrin’s marriage. Now they will have to feign friendship to restore his reputation. Perrin is quite dependent on Faile and Berelain climbed all over their marriage trying to advance herself and her nation.

Crossroads of Twilight Read-through #8: Perrin's Affairs

By Linda

At the climax of his thread in Crossroads of Twilight (In So Habor and What Must Be Done chapters) Perrin shifts gears character-wise. In So Habor he was careful and temperate, sensing what is wrong and wanting to heal it. Later back at the camp his great strength and fortitude combined with his wildness to produce actions that alarmed even Masema’s rabble.

As this indicates, there are two sides to Perrin: the wild man/wolf berserker/shaman and the sky god/smith god/creator. The conflict they cause within him is symbolised by the lure of his axe versus his hammer, being a cutter versus being a shaper.

During the preparation for So Habor, the main evidence of the Wild Man is in the way he noticed his decorative surroundings or his fancy clothes only to scorn them. Perrin took a back seat and let Berelain and Annoura plan the approach to So Habor:

The First of Mayene and an Aes Sedai should know what they were about in a thing like this.

- Crossroads of Twilight, In So Habor

Giving Berelain responsibility also gave him a respite from her tiresome harassment and slander. Yet Perrin is the first to realise the incongruity between the clean seed samples and the filth everywhere else in the town and insist on seeing the grain in the warehouses.

Like an Ogier, another creature of the Wild, Perrin is sensitive to the feel of a place. It’s not just his sense of smell. In fact, So Habor smelled so bad that Perrin’s nose was effectively non-functional, but he sensed the Pattern of So Habor better than anyone:

“I think we should find somewhere else,” Perrin said. That fellow had been afraid of more than yellow eyes. This place felt . . . askew.
“We are already here, and there is nowhere else,” Berelain replied in a very practical voice. In all that stink, he could not catch her scent; he would have to go by what he heard and saw, and her face was calm enough for an Aes Sedai. “I’ve been in towns that smelled worse than this, Perrin. I’m sure I have. And if this Lord Cowlin is gone, it won’t be the first time I’ve dealt with merchants. You don’t really believe they’ve seen the dead walking, do you?”
What was a man to say to that without sounding a pure wool head?

- Crossroads of Twilight, In So Habor

In the Wheel of Time a Lord and the Land he cares for are one. There is corruption in So Habor because Lord Cowlin committed murder, and of his Lady at that, a representative of the Goddess of Sovereignty (see Arthurian themes essay). The crime goes unpunished and her ghost is unquiet. Other ghosts are walking too:

“The dead are walking in So Habor. Lord Cowlin fled the town for fear of his wife’s spirit. It seems there was doubt as to how she died. Hardly a man or woman in the town has not seen someone dead, and a good many have seen more than one.
Some say people have died from the touch of someone dead. I cannot verify that, but people have died of fright, and others because of it. No one goes out at night in So Habor, or walks into a room unannounced. People strike out at shadows and surprises with whatever is to hand, and sometimes they have found a husband, wife or neighbor dead at their feet.”

- Crossroads of Twilight, In So Habor

With the Dark One’s power increasing, the local lord’s great crime and then dereliction of duty has resulted in the corruption of the town and the weakening of the Pattern there. It provided an entry point for the Dark One.

The town streets are dim and shadowy symbolising a lack of Light. So Habor is dying; it barely seemed to breathe according to Perrin. Perrin thinks the townsfolk don’t care anymore. The people show a deadness of spirit.

He is convinced more is wrong than just the dead walking:

There was worse wrong in So Habor than spirits walking, and every instinct told him to leave at a dead run, without looking back.

- Crossroads of Twilight, In So Habor

Without any Lord or Lady to care for it, the Land sickens and dies. Perrin knows the Pattern is askew, warped by Dark One. Lord Cowlin’s behaviour attracted the Dark One’s touch, or made it stronger there. It is a Foreshadowing of what Rand will cause in Arad Doman. So Habor warns Perrin of what can happen if a Lord abandons duty.

At the warehouse that Perrin sensibly insisted on seeing, he showed that he is a Strength figure as well as a Wild Man:

Perrin pointed to a two-story warehouse chosen at random, no different from any other, a windowless stone building with a wide pair of wooden doors held shut by a wooden bar that could have done for a ceiling beam at the Golden Barge.
The merchants suddenly recalled that they had forgotten to bring men to lift the bars. They offered to go back for them. The Lady Berelain and Annoura Sedai could rest in front of the fire at the Golden Barge while workmen were fetched. They were sure Mistress Vadere would lay a fire. Their tongues went still when Perrin placed his hand beneath the thick beam and shoved it up out of the wooden brackets. The thing was heavy, but he backed up with it to give him room to turn and toss it down on the street with a crash. The merchants stared. This might have been the first time they had ever seen a man in a silk coat do anything that could be called work.

- Crossroads of Twilight, In So Habor

moving the thick beam out of the bracket with one hand. Strength was a popular theme in the arts in Renaissance and early modern times, and was exemplified by particular heroes. In myth the hero often has a Wild Man companion to help him on his quest. Perrin is one of the rarer types of hero in being his own Wild Man, although he has other Wild Man aides, such as Elyas and Gaul, and is himself the Wild Man companion that Rand needs to help him fulfil the quest of defeating the Dark One.

Perrin gave strength to his people, consciously calming the servants by appearing unconcerned at the creepiness of So Habor. Never regarding towns positively in normal circumstances, he wouldn’t send his people into So Habor because they might be corrupted. Nor would he allow any Aes Sedai to remain there. We have yet to see the consequences of this decision. While the Aes Sedai Healed the wounded at Malden, the Wise Ones did so too and were at least as good at it. All three Aes Sedai must yet have some part to play in Perrin’s thread.

Yet Perrin himself felt an urge to help and heal the town. This is his shaman (of wolf totem) aspect. Perrin wants to save and Heal but decisions on duty are his weakness and Berelain tells him he can’t save everyone:

Did she [Berelain] think he felt guilty? Balanced against Faile’s life, the troubles of So Habor could not budge the scales a hair. But he turned his bay so he was looking at the gray town walls across the river, not the hollow-eyed children piling up empty sacks. A man did what he could.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

Fortitude, bearing what has to be borne or having the strength to do what has to be done, is one of the strongest themes around Perrin, as strong as wildness and being an artisan. Regarding the latter theme, even amid all his worries Perrin misses being a blacksmith:

His hands itched for farrier’s tools. It seemed years since he had changed a horse’s shoes, or worked a forge.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

These reminders of what he would rather be doing might indicate what he soon needs to be doing. But back at the camp kind and gentle Perrin has to face hurting someone to save someone else:

Embrace pain. There had to be pain, when you put a man to the question. He had not let that thought form in his head before this. But to get Faile back. . . .

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

Masema dehumanises the Aiel to justify the use of torture and claims they don’t really feel the pain. Aram’s eyes are nearly as mad as Masema’s because Masema is leading him astray, but Perrin doesn’t make the association.

Anyway, Aram says his attitude comes from Perrin:

“It has to be done,” Aram said, half pleading, half demanding. He was on Masema’s other side, clutching the edges of his green cloak as if to keep his hands from the sword on his back. His eyes were almost as hot as Masema’s. “You taught me that a man does what he must.”
Perrin forced his fists to unknot. What had to be done, for Faile.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

A Tinker excusing the use of torture on a random captive and effectively encouraging someone to perform it is a potent sign of corruption. And he claims it is Perrin’s teaching.

The onlookers from Masema’s and Perrin’s groups were contemptuous of Perrin, believing he was too kind-hearted to use torture. And he doesn’t; he uses maiming instead and scares even the maniacs and outlaws:

Even Masema was staring at him as if he had never before seen the man standing there with an axe. When he turned to go, Masema’s men and the Ghealdanin alike parted in front of him as though to let a whole fist of Trollocs through.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

Perrin can’t run from the smell of blood he carries with him on his axe. Blood that has never looked so black before. He is conscious of the evil that he did and for nothing as it turned out. The blood on his face mirrors that on his conscience. Perrin’s face indicates how the world sees him – as bloody – and how he sees the world - through a mask of blood.

Perrin blames his actions on haste, as an Ogier would. He worries about being a berserker, and underneath that, of losing his humanity. Elyas is sure that Perrin won’t become fond of maiming people.

Perrin’s strong links to the Wild embodies the Land fighting the Shadow for its own survival. He years to return the Land and the People to their natural state, to what they are meant to be doing.

As the ultimate expression of the corruption theme of these chapters, Tallanvor arrives with offers of a deal that might be almost as bad as allying with the Shadow:

Seanchan. And damane. Yes, that would be like taking the Dark One’s help.

- Crossroads of Twilight, What Must Be Done

Perrin is determined to take it. As the chapter says, it is what must be done. And Perrin bears it with fortitude.

The results were quite positive overall as we shall see in the Knife of Dreams Read-through in a couple of weeks.

Perrin has been hung up on choices because he is reluctant to cause pain or damage and feels responsible if these happen to his followers. At the end of Crossroads of Twilight the first of his choices were made – the hammer and not the axe – and after he rescues Faile, more choices will follow.

The motifs of the Wild Man, Strength, Temperance, shaman of the wolf totem, sky gods, and smith gods along with real world parallels making up Perrin’s character are explored further in the newly written Perrin essay now published on the blog. Essays on the other two ta’veren, Rand and Mat, were published last year. This essay completes the triad. I’ve also written an essay on one of their Ladies, the Empress, and am currently writing another on Faile in which somehow Berelain insisted on coming along for the ride. Well she would.

The Storm is Coming! #13: Mired in Altara, part 1

After Arad Doman and the Borderlands, it is now time to turn our eyes to the South and to Perrin's, Mat's and the Seanchan's story lines.

The first article of this Altaran mini-series with focus on the Wolf King's crew, recapitulating elements from the 'Faile's rescue' story line that spanned from the the Path of Daggers to the end of Knife of Dreams, accompanied by a first map of the area of Altara and the surrounding nations, focussing on the north-west area.

A Who's Who of the "Wolf Pack" will follow this first article, before I give the same treatment to The Fox and the Red Hand, and conclude with the Ravens.

Prologue, chapter one and chapter two spoilers are as usual indicated and hidden. The map itself doesn't use information beyond Knife of Dreams.


The Wheel of Time Zoo mired in Altara part 1:
The Wolf King and the wolfpack
(and the odd hawk and falcon)

by Dominic

1. Basic information and a few geographical features:

Altara: Altara, a bit like Murandy, used to be more a cultural aggregate than a proper nation like Andor or the Borderlands. The territory is vast, but in effect the influence and authority of the ruler in Ebou Dar didn't extend beyond a hundred miles out of the capital. It is now, in effect a Seanchan province ruled by King Beslan Mitsobar (following his mother's murder, likely by a gholam), in the name of the new Empress Tuon Paendrag. The Seanchan are well on their way to bring the whole territory under the control of Ebou Dar, where the leaders of the Return under Tuon Athaem Kore Paendrag are temporarily based (Tuon intends to have Tar Valon as her capital one day).

The Forest of Shadow: Also known as the Great Darkwood, it stretches for an hundred miles or more south of the Manetherendrelle, east of the Mountains of Mist, without any road or village. It appears to be technically part of Ghealdan, though as it's non-inhabited, in practice it marks the real northern border. The Great Darkwood is said to be difficult to travel, making it impossible for an army not using Gateways, the Ways or to'raken to enter the Two Rivers. It is not featured on the map, but would be above the northwest corner.

Garen's Wall: the impassable massive cliff (of course, it is not so for to'raken or Travellers), no doubt originated in the Breaking, marking the north-east border of Ghealdan. In a Q&A, Robert Jordan revealed that the cliff is named after King Garen who in the days of Dhowlan (Free Years Era) fought many wars against Farashelle and used the cliff itself as a major asset in the defense of Dhowlan. Queen Alliandre has, for now secretly, resurrected the tradition of calling the army of Ghealdan the Legion of the Wall.

The Damona Mountains: the range in north-eastern Altara, cut by the Lugard Road in the Malvide Narrows. Beyond it is the Molvaine Gap. The Damonas are referred to as marking the effective north-east border of Altara, though it appears that villages in the Molvaine Gap like Remen (a town on the Manetherendrelle we visited with Perrin in The Dragon Reborn) are part of Altara as well. Given that the authority of the Throne of the Winds doesn't in effect extends farther than 100 miles from Ebou Dar, northern Altara is more a cultural and geographical denomination than a political one - in these regions, the local lords are for all effect sovereign on their domains like the Murandian lords and ladies, though the Seanchan conquest is beginning to change this and bring the territory under the rule of King Beslan in truth, now owing allegiance to Tuon.

The Malvide Narrows: a stretch five miles wide cutting the Damona Mountains chain in north-eastern Altara. The road from Ebou Dar to Lugard passes there. Beyond the mountains is the region known as the Molvaine Gap. A smaller pass used by smugglers used to exist south of the Narrows but it has been blocked by a landslide as the half of the Band of the Red Hand with Lord Talmanes passed it, leaving only the Narrows open to reach the Manetherendrelle and cross it into Murandy, the ridge county west of the the Damonas from which the Jehannah Road can be reached and the dangerous area south of the mountains, where many Seanchan armies are massed in prevision of an invasion of Illian as ways out of Northern and Central Altara.

The Molvaine Gap: the Gap is the area out of the Narrows and down the north-east side of the Damona Mountains. It leads to the Manetherendrelle (the town of Remen stands there, on the Altaran side) and further to the passes into Murandy. At the time of the year the timeline of The Gathering Storm begins, the trade ships from Illian would be travelling north again, to Whitebridge and Maradon in Saldaea.


2. Rescuing Faile, the condensed (well, the somewhat shorter than the real deal) version:

On the 16th of Taisham 1000 NE (this corresponds to early January of the current year, for the WOT-calendar impaired ;), Rand and Perrin staged a quarrel (which nearly caused Perrin's death for real as a more and more insane Rand lost control) that resulted in Perrin's apparent banishment. Perrin, in truth, was embarking on a secret mission for Rand that would prove far more difficult than expected.

Two goals rolled into one: Bringing Masema secretly to Rand (he was presumably to return to his Dragonsworn, put an end to excesses and give them orders from Rand without the Shadow knowing, thus the whole secrecy) and reaching Queen Alliandre and get her to follow up on her letter to Rand by declaring herself openly for him, once she was no more under the thumb of the Prophet of the Lord Dragon (may his name be blessed by the Light).

Perrin set out the same day for Ghealdan using a Gateway, with a large party comprising two Asha'man from Rand's inner circle, his wife Faile and her group of young Aiel wannabes from Cairhien and Tear who all swore fealty to her and who grandly if secretly named themselves Cha Faile (The Falcon's Talon), six Aiel Wise Ones apprenticing two of Rand's sworn Aes Sedai - Masuri Sedai (Arafellin Brown) and Seonid Sedai (Cairhienin Green), Maidens of the Spear including Bain and Chiad, the WO's retinue of gai'shain, Perrin's Aiel friend Gaul - in total less than fifty Aiel; longbowmen from the Two Rivers who had accompanied Perrin to Caemlyn and who are all Dumai's Wells veterans, Cairhienin servants and craftsmen (smiths, wheelwrights, farriers and so on) loaned from the estates of Lord Dobraine Taborwyn (soon to be Steward of Cairhien by then), The First of Mayene Berelain Paeron sur Paendrag and her entourage of servants, thiefcatchers, her Aes Sedai advisor Annoura (Taraboner Gray) and 900 Winged Guards lead by the hot-headed Lord Gallene.

Nine days later, on the 25th of Taisham, Perrin located Alliandre touring southern Ghealdan and currently residing at a Lord's palace in the city of Bethal. Perrin's ta'veren pull worked overtime the next day.

Elyas Machera who had tracked down Perrin thanks to the wolves felt his need and joined his side, so far serving mostly as part-time scout and part-time marital advisor. Perrin rescued a group of stranded travellers who turned out to be Morgase Trakand (still known to him under the false identity of Maighdin Dorlan, lady's maid) with Lini Eltring, Tallanvor, Basel Gill, Dobraine's kin fallen on hard times Breane Taborwyn and Gill's strongman Lamgwyn and finally the late Pedron Niall's spy master Sebban Balwer. They all swore fealty to Faile and Perrin and joined their household as servants.

Berelain and Annoura then brought Alliandre out of Bethal and Perrin became her liege lord, continuing the trend started with Gaul (who has been spotted as the future Shaarad Clan Chief by the Wise One Bair), Faile and Berelain – and though he doesn't know it, Morgase - that Perrin attracts to him leaders, ex-rulers and heirs to thrones and positions, the same way Mat attracts all sort of heroes and heroes-to-be. With Alliandre came her own entourage of servants and about a thousand Lancers from the Legion of the Wall under First Captain Gerard Arganda – and the information of the location of the Prophet.

All in a day's work!

The party travelled by country roads forty leagues south of Bethal to the Amadician city Abila to meet Masema. They reached it 30 days later (establishing a sedate pace of 5.3 miles/day on average for Perrin's group at that point, but they had to contend with snow and scouting to avoid bad encounters).

And Abila turned out to be another grand ta'veren festival: Masema agreed to follow Perrin but dithered and finally brought not the honour guard Perrin had allowed him but up to 20,000 rabid fanatics who thus took the path of their necessary destruction. Faile, Alliandre, Maighdin Bain, Chiad and 2 women from Cha Faile got captured by Sevanna's Shaido - forcing Perrin's group to hold together to rescue them, eventually leading to the capture of most of the Shaido's channellers and the destruction of the evil and corrupted leader of the Shaido. The information also filtered to Perrin that Masema has met with Seanchan officials.

Faile has been captured while hawking 10 miles south-east of Perrin's camp near Abila. From that point, Perrin started sending fast and experienced scouts (usually Maidens, Elyas, the Warders and his best woodsman from the Two Rivers) ahead trailing the Shaido, leaving at dawn and returning at sunset. Perrin's group would then Travel to the farthest point the scouts had reached.

Rushing too much at first, Perrin went too far south for days, looking for signs of the Shaido's trail they had lost. He finally had to retrace his steps north to find the trail, losing many days and finally returning at the location he was at two days beyond the first Travelling jump, where the Shaido trail was picked up again, heading east toward the Eldar but zigzagging in many directions as they found more of the scattered Shaido septs. Soon, the Shaido crossed the Eldar river into Altara to head north and east, and Perrin finally started catching up and reducing the distance between his group and his prey.

On the 22th day of Sabban, yet another great ta'veren pull day, as Rand set out to cleansed saidin at Shadar Logoth Perrin's camp was circled by darkhounds, Berelain brought him Perrin a writ from Suroth given to Masema that her thiefcatchers stole and that would prove the key to complete the "Blacksmith Puzzle", and Elyas and the scouts returned, having found the city of Malden and around it the Shaido encampment. Upon further inspection, it turned out the Shaido were now far more numerous than even in their worst nightmares, and had over 400 Wise One channellers, the whole clan's.

Perrin began his war preparations, first seeing to resupply in So Habor, where the Dead already walked - a prophesized sign of the imminence of Tarmon Gai'don. Balwer caught up there with Tallanvor, who had fled the party to follow the Shaido trail alone and from whom came the beginning of the solution: a large Seanchan army was coming from the south to deal with the Shaido. That evening, another prophecy marking the imminence of Tarmon Gai'don came true as Perrin Aybara, soon to be revealed by the Seanchan to be featured as the Wolf King in the Karaethon Cycle, abandoned for good his war axe in revulsion over the fact he had not hated torturing Shaido warriors. And thus the Wolf King finally carried his blacksmith hammer.

Perrin's people captured Galina Casban, the black sister who had lead Rand's kidnapping and got captured by the Shaido and made gai'shain. Using the alias "Alyse" she made a deal with Perrin to help rescue (which couldn't be further from the truth; Galina had been forced to openly lie to Faile and had decided Faile and her friends had to die not to leave behind people who could eventually expose her as Black Ajah).

On the 19th of Aine, nearly a month after he located the Shaido at Malden, Perrin and the Seanchan Banner-General Tylee Khirgan met and concluded a surprising alliance to destroy the Shaido together. Preparation began for the Battle of Malden. Three days later, Perrin and Tylee Travelled to southwest Amadicia to a Seanchan supply outpost and, using Masema's writ from Suroth were able to secure a map, a few rakens and fliers to scout and most importantly virtually all the reserves of prepared forkroot the Seanchan had in stock. Perrin faced a failed assassination attempt, very likely from Darkfriends sent by a Forsaken who tracked him down, somehow, following Moridin's recent orders to have both Perrin and Mat killed.

On Aine the 25th, Perrin tainted the aqueduct of Malden with great quantities of forkroot to neutralize the Wise Ones.

On the morning of the 26th, Perrin had the ridges on both sides of Malden surrounded in fog to hide the troops and the wolves to howl by day (a signal meant for Faile who was supposed to escape with the group of rescuers sent by Perrin through the aqueduct, a plan that came to nothing because of Galina's betrayal of Faile) and several thousands longbowmen came with Tam al'Thor to lead them via Gateway; Tam that Perrin now names officially his First Captain. Tylee and Perrin launched their attacks on the Shaido, capturing about half (200 hundred) of the Shaido Wise Ones who could channel, destroying or forcing into surrender most of the Shaido Spears (who were disarmed) but a few hundreds who escaped with Therava, carrying many of the Wise Ones incapacitated by forkroot.

The losses were few, Tylee estimated them as no more than 100 men on the Seanchan's or Perrin's sides, altogether. They included Aram, long time a danger in the making to Perrin (as Dreamed by Egwene)

whom Masema convinced to murder Perrin during the battle. TGS (prologue) spoiler - click to expand

With What the Storm Means, we now know Masema made this attempt after a very dubious vision of Rand in shimmering white ordering him to kill Perrin. While Masema is beyond a doubt insane and delusional, combined with the previous failed attempt in Amadicia that suggests a traitor near Perrin this points out to a Forsaken who has tracked Perrin down, a Forsaken who might not give up even after two failed attempts...

The other benefit of Malden was that Masema's fanatical male rabble and his even more demonic and bloodthirsty harridans all died, leaving him with fewer than a hundred of his bodyguard men, half of those having died too. Having escaped to the west as Perrin camped, sometimes after the Battle, Masema and his last men were tracked down and put down secretly by Faile and Cha Faile.

Let us now hope that so many corrupted and dangerous people, Shaido dead warriors and Masema's rabid followers recalling more and more the attitude of Aridhollins that lead to Shadar Logoth, won't be raised from the dead to terrorize northern Altara or haunt Malden, making the terror at So Habor look as pleasant as an evening with a gleeman at an inn.



3. Locating Malden, Altara:

Robet Jordan left us several clues to approximate the location of Malden.

The first important clue is the map Tylee Khirgan requested from Captain Faloun in Almizar. To plan the battle, she asked for a detailed map of the north-western quarter of Altara.

The second important clue came from the Shaido Wise One Therava, who spoke of the mountains to the east, less than two weeks (as the Shaido with gai'shain travel) distant from Malden. At the speed the Shaido travel, she had to be speaking of the Damona Mountains. The northernmost portion is somewhat closer, but we need to keep in mind that Therava had in her mind to head east, toward the Drangonwall, without letting Sevanna understand her true intentions too early. This helps us a lot, because even accounting for some zigzagging the Shaido did before crossing over the Eldar, and knowing that it took them about two weeks to reach Malden, this places the town roughly midway between the Eldar and the Mountains.

A third clue came from Perrin. He sent Basel Gill, and a few hours later the rescued gai'shain from Malden to the north, telling them to head for the mountains then to follow them until they reached the Jehannah road, then to head east on it toward the passes into Murandy. This means Malden is eastward enough to be below a part of the mountains, yet westward enough to remain in the north-western quarter, while accounting for the fact Therava in Malden spoke of them as being to the east / northeast. While on the surface it would seem to make more sense for Perrin to have sent the people toward the Lugard Road to the east, Perrin seeks to remain hidden, and Malden is in ridge country, the ridges oriented north-south and some of them densely forested; travelling to the east from this location would make for a very arduous trip going up and down each ridge, impossible for carts and sometimes probably for horses. It meant a lot of zigzagging to find gaps, tracks and passes in the ridges.

TGS (prologue) spoiler - click to expand

Masema, who escaped over such a ridge on foot, judged that Perrin's army could not follow him in that direction (himself was turning north now that he had climbed the ridge).

Finally, Perrin was aware that the south, the west and the east were unsafe, with two large Shaido groups to reach Malden from the south-east and south-west within hours.

Another pointer is the fact Perrin's group made around 40 miles on their better days, sending out his scouts at sunrise who returned at sunset, when the group would then travel to the farthest point on the Shaido trail the scouts had reached. Perrin had been in Altara for a few days when his scouts located Malden. After the village of Brytan, the trail was still going north-east. This gives us a very rough idea of how far east Perrin could have gone. We also have to account for the fact Tylee had her camp a few leagues to the west from Perrin, who was at Brytan (up to 80 miles south-west from Malden). Finally, we have to account for the fact Tylee's rakens spotted Galad fifty miles from her camp. The direction relative to the camp is not given, but Tylee could tell already that the Whitecloaks were heading north and not for her camp, which tells us they were significantly enough to the west that she could tell with certainty they were not coming east, in her direction. Galad seeks to escape the Seanchan, so following the Eldar to the Jehannah Road up north is logical, and safer than risking to cross Altara, not knowing where the Seanchan outposts might be. Trying to reach the Murandian passes would be logical, though it's possible the area between the east of Garen's Wall and the mountains west of Murandy may also be a viable way into Andor.

We may also have a more ambiguous clue with the fact that Mat's most advanced scouts (Talmanes had many out long before he even reunited with Mat, and they have excellent optics) may actually have spotted Tylee's camp. Mat is aware that the biggest Seanchan army in the area was well West of him. He avoided it, as his plan was to draw the army from the Molvaine Gap to the south, to free the passage into Murandy. Some of Mat's scouts have even spotted a raken heading west, shortly before the Battle of Malden. We know that Tylee's rakens were a rarity in Altara at that point: Suroth had ordered most of them to Tarabon and the campaign against Ituralde. This order won't be rescinded by General Galgan until over a week later. It sounds likely that the Band has spotted one of Tylee's flying scouts, perhaps the one sent east who eventually spotted the Shaido group many days south-east of Malden, notably.

Perrin has passed into Altara using a Gateway to cross the Eldar, but he did so at the latitude of two villages (an Amadician and an Altaran one) connected by a ferry the Shaido seemingly used (the ferry was nowhere to be seen when Perrin arrived). Does this help? Not really. What we know of this area is that the closest village in any direction from Salidar was 20 miles up north - which only excludes the possibility that Perrin crossed the Eldar closer than 20 miles from Salidar. There has to be a village with a ferry in that area, however, as back in the early days of Salidar Thom and Juilin used one to go spy in Amadicia. It's probable Perrin crossed some leagues south of Salidar, as it seems the Shaido have been mostly heading north-east in Altara, their goal possibly the mountains before Sevanna decided to settle in Malden, to Therava's annoyance.

The location of Abila doesn't help either. First, we have far less conclusive clues to locate it than we have for Malden. Secondly, from his camp near Abila, ten miles from which Faile was captured, Perrin pursued the Shaido "more south than east" and then made several jumps too many south until he reached inhabited zones and realized they had lost the trail. He then retraced his way north without Travelling, until they found out the trail had gone east two days south of the point he first Travelled to. To complicate matters, the Shaido started to zigzag to meet other septs, which in effect made us the readers lose their trail (and their chronology) for a while. So Abila is of little help.

TGS (prologue) spoiler - click to expand

The prologue of The Gathering Storm give us an additional clue, from the fact that 20 days after Malden, Tylee was just a day north of Ebou Dar.

In conclusion, the location I have picked for Malden is very approximate. Drawing a perimeter of 10 leagues, perhaps 15 or 20 even around my chosen location would be safer. We will no doubt get a few more clues from events and chronology in TGS or ToM to further narrow it down. There is a road oriented South-North just West of Malden, below the next western ridge (this is a country road, and not knowing its path or extent further South and North, I decided not to show it on the map). There is no doubt a network of country roads in this area, a few leading east either to the Lugard road or to the Molvide Narrows, and west toward the Eldar and the villages or towns with ferries. Evidence of this comes notably from Mat, who talks of how the Seanchan armies use such country roads to come north from Ebou Dar, rejoining the Lugard Road to reach the Narrows only once in central Altara (the Seanchan move their troops through mountains and forest to disguise their movements, a practice of relative help when the enemy has Asha'man as scouts, but no doubt a force of habit in Seanchan Generals used to face foes scouting with raken). Most roads would go North or South in the northwest, again because of the ridges.

4. Locating So Habor, Perrin's and Tylee's camps:

Locating So Harbor and the camps in relation to Malden is easier. For the absolute locations, the problems are the same as with Malden itself.

Perrin's group Travelled one day farther north-east from the small village of Brytan (around 40 miles/10 leagues NE) and it's from that location that his scouts returned at sunset with the news the Shaido were settled at Malden. This places Brytan perhaps up to 80 miles south-west of Malden, perhaps less depending on the success of the scouts the previous day.

From that Travelling spot 40 miles NE of Brytan, Masema told Perrin that the town of So Habor was "about a day south and west" (without Travelling, but with carts etc.). That's the only clue we have, as Perrin chose to Travel to So Habor. This places So Habor not far from Brytan, and in the same general direction. It is indeed well located to sell its grain to Ghealdan and Amadicia, apparently no longer in the area with ridges. There is a river west of it, but as we don't know its course or extent it's not represented on the map.

Perrin's "permanent camp", from where he planned the Battle of Malden, was just outside Brytan (the small village's few hovels were all so full of vermin they were unusable by Perrin). Perrin completely abandoned this camp on the day of the Battle. The non-combatants (essentially everyone's servants) Travelled with him to his position on the ridge west of Malden.

Banner-General Tylee's camp was "a few leagues west" of Perrin's. As we know.

5. Locating Lord Captain-Commander Damodred:

About 20 days before the Battle of Malden, Galad Damodred killed Eamon Valda in a duel under the Light, became the new Lord Captain-Commander of the 7000 remaining Children of the Light (the Questioners escaped toward Nassad and the Seanchan in the aftermath). The events took place as the Children were about to meet up with the Seanchan they had concluded an alliance with in Nassad. Galad made clear to his men his intention to escape the Seanchan-conquered lands to find allies to fight back, and to fight Tarmon Gai'don. Where did this take place?

It took place at a manor of Ailron's given to the Children by the Seanchan, located very close to the southern border of Amadica, with the mountains below it just a few miles south. It may not be altogether distant from Almizar, where Tylee and Perrin went for forkroot and raken. Galad also made an historical reference that helps a lot: he stood on the ruins of a paved road that predated Amadica and Tarabon, a great trade route before trade moved much further north (a reference to the Amador/Elmora road). This internal evidence, plus the name of the city, confirms that Nassad, just the other side of the border, is in Tarabon and not in Altara as some had concluded.

Galad was in a great hurry. With Asunawa escaping toward Nassad, he would soon have had the Seanchan on his trail as the Whitecloaks became deserters to hunt down. He has to have made as much speed to the east as he could manage. The Children are fast riders, and often have remounts (and in Amadicia, could easily bully people for more... well, perhaps not anymore with Mr. Do-Right in charge...). They are not burdened by any camp followers either. Galad would have had to turn north at some point, not to come too close to Ebou Dar, but probably trying to avoid the zones to the north-east controlled by the Prophet. He would have had to be careful in Altara as well, not knowing where the Seanchan outposts could be located, which made heading for the Malvide Narrows very risky. Galad seems to have crossed the Eldar at a village with a ferry, and followed the Eldar north, with the intent to reach the Jehannah road. This is interesting, because Tylee's scouts reported his exact direction: north, not north-east. This means he had most likely not reached yet the longitude of the south-east border of Altara and Ghealdan. It doesn't make sense for Galad to enter Ghealdan, under the control of Masema as far as he knows, and that is the opposite direction he intends to take. This is an additonal clue that confirms the longitude range Malden can be situated at, and it works well with the other clues. Galad's army was seen three days before Malden. This put him not far too far south of Malden three days later, but unless he found a road or gaps in the ridges to make his way north-east (he will have to, eventually), he's probably a day or two west of Perrin, and in theory should move much faster. The meeting of the two groups, or at least the Children taking notice that Perrin's group is nearby, is probably not that far off in the timeline. It may even have happened as The Gathering Storm begins, and depending what Galad makes of this huge group afoot, it might explain him slowing down to investigate. He may mistake them for refugees from the Seanchan he should help, or for Masema's mob if rumours have reached him that he has vanished from Amadicia and Ghealdan.

6. After Malden:

In the aftermath of Malden, Perrin and Banner-General Tylee went their own ways. From the fact Perrin and Tylee said their goodbyes, it's implied that Perrin and his army didn't remain to deal with the two large groups of Shaido that were about to reach Malden. However, Tylee herself spoke of having enough time left before the Shaido arrived to "make our deployements", which likely indicates her army dealt with the two Shaido groups, as would be logical. Having dealt with the Wise Ones who could channel and having damane, her own army was more than enough for this task

The two Asha'man with Perrin were very tired before the Battle - not only from the last days' preparations and the battle itself but from accumulated fatigue (they took to sleeping whenever they could), so Perrin could not Travel afterward - he pointed this out himself. Pursuing the Shaido, making those large gateways for so many people day in day out has taken its toll on the Asha'man, and they needed to rest, especially now that Perrin's group is a really big town on the move, passing from several thousands (Masema alone had 20 thousands) to 100,000 refuges and an army nearly matching Galad's 7000, now that Tam came with thousands of longbowmen (Perrin has three to four thousands Two Rivers people with him now).

Hours before the Battle of Malden ended, Perrin had sent his servants to the north. Not knowing if he would succeed or fail at Malden, prepared to rescue Faile or die there, he ordered his shambayan Basil Gill to lead the servants north all the way to the mountains, to follow them until they reached the Jehannah road. This means they were asked to go north until they were out of the ridge country (where it's more difficult to travel east or west), then follow the mountains west to the Jehannah Road. Perrin hoped everything went well and he could catch up to them before they reached the Mountains. If not, they were to send Alliandre's servants west toward Jehannah, and themselves to take the road eastward, reaching the passes and entering Murandy (it might be useful to point out here that Perrin had a good Seanchan map of the area, and he's travelled this stretch of the Jehannah road before, in The Dragon Reborn.)

This may very well tell us less than we think about Perrin's intentions, though. It sounds like Perrin's instructions concerning the Jehannah Road were a plan B for the non-combatants, in case Malden turned to disaster and he could not catch up to them. After the battle, Perrin and Faile began to send the refugees north as well, to be gone before the Shaido groups arrived. Right after Malden, Perrin's group was scattered, the vanguard of servants on horses and carts already hours (many miles) to the north, the refugees hours behind them, and finally Perrin's army in the rear guard. The Asha'man were exhausted and could not have been used to Travel and start regrouping everyone. Anxious to know if Morgase had been rescued, the servants lead by Basel Gill are not likely to have made too much speed, however. In a matter of days at most, Perrin's group was probably regrouped.

From this point on, I'm using material from What the Storm Means, so I'll put the whole section under the spoiler tag.

TGS (prologue) spoiler - click to expand

7. The timeline

Following Steven Cooper's chronology, the Battle of Malden took place on the 26th day of Aine.

Before we return to Perrin and his intentions, we'll look at Tylee. Her location and the exact timeline as TGS begins are established firmly in her POV in the prologue: Tylee's army is a day of march north of Ebou Dar, and it's Adar 18, the twentieth day since the Battle. This is a further clue that while Malden is in the north-west quarter of Altara it's probably not as far North as many have believed (Karede, much further north and east than that - four days distant from the Malvide Narrows, even called that region 'central eastern Altara'). By then Tylee had received news of her promotion to the Blood by raken (she meant to send one south after Malden, to send a report and ask for to'raken to bring the Shaido prisoners back to Ebou Dar). In the epilogue scene in Knife of Dreams High Lord Galgan tells Suroth he's arranged Tylee's promotion to the Blood for putting an end to Sevanna since she herself had overlooked it, a scene that Steven Cooper guessed, calculating distances and possible speed for Tuon to have reached Ebou Dar, to have happened around Aidar 15. This is likely not far from reality, it appears - a few days off at most, if that.

The scene with Masema is the last of the prologue, coming after Tylee's. There is no solid indication for the timeline of this one. Normally, Jordan avoided putting scenes out of order in synchronized storylines (it would rapidly get very confusing to follow) - and the last Tylee and Perrin scenes in Knife of Dreams were forcibly synchronized. This suggests strongly that the scene of Masema's escape and death took place around the same time or after Tylee's scene. But this is a guess. We are on shakier grounds timeline wise, dealing with a new writer. Jordan's prologue had to be split, some scenes moved to Towers of Midnight. Brandon may have decided to move the Masema scene to the end then, as it ended the prologue with more of a bang. But I'll work from the assumption he's done as Jordan most likely would have done, and that Masema's scene follows the timeline of Tylee's:

Let's look at the clues from the POV:

Masema appears to still be in ridge country, but something about his surroundings, the geography etc. begins to feel familiar. He speaks of going north where Perrin won't find him then reaching the highlands and crossing to Almoth Plain to join the Dragonsworn. He makes a point to note that what's familiar has nothing to do with his Borderman experience - which suggests in turn that he's getting very close to Southern Ghealdan which he knows all too well - the highlands he's referring to are of course northern Ghealdan and the Mountains of Mists. This is consistent with what Therava said about the mountains being 'less than two weeks' distant from Malden.

Faile sarcastically thanked Masema "for his help at Malden" when she kills him. At first, this suggests the scene must happen much earlier than 20 days after the Battle, but it's not conclusive. It's safe to say Faile at that point has learned the full truth about Aram - which may have taken some time to get in full from Perrin (who would definitely have feared that Faile do something dangerous), and secondly, Perrin's opinion of Masema and what should be done with him had altered greatly since the time he refused to listen to the Wise Ones and Aes Sedai who wanted to have him killed. At Malden, Perrin had placed Masema and his people where he hoped they would die, and was disappointed that Masema and his bodyguard had come to the western side where they would survive. How has Perrin gone from setting this trap to get Masema killed and back to his original position that Masema should not be murdered, to the point Faile needs to keep it secret from him forever? This suggests some time has passed and things have developed a bit in Perrin's group. In the first days, Faile would probably have had other ideas, and other duties, on her mind than Masema.

There's the geography, and Masema's hopes to lose Perrin by going north. This suggests that Perrin's group has indeed progressed northward since KOD. Two weeks later, he could be well on his way to the mountains. Escaping north then turning west, Masema would enter Ghealdan. This would mean that Perrin and Galad could be approaching the bottleneck near the moutnains where Perrin needs to turn west to reach the Jehannah Road while Galad turns east to reach the same.

Such a timeline would make it far less likely that Mat and Perrin meet up soon, unless something happens to slow down or block Mat at the Molvaine Gap or Perrin suddenly Travels there (but why would he do this, he has no reason anymore to make small jumps). A week after Malden, Mat was about to enter the Malvide Narrows with the Band and head for Murandy. Unless some developments happenned, like Mat deciding to wait for a ship for instance, he and the Band should be weeks ahead of Perrin.

This calls to question why would Perrin choose not to Travel, when he is low on food and money (Faile has to find towns with people rich enough to buy Sevana's treasure first) and he has 100,000 people on foot to take care of and protect? As he sent the Asha'man away to find Rand, at the time Rand is making efforts not to be located and found? To all the world but Rand, Perrin is a banished pariah…

If Perrin has sent the Asha'man away, he could remain mired in Altara longer than expected, with Galad nearby and the army of General Chisen no doubt soon to return to the Molvaine Gap, to block his passage, and Galad's.

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Character Parallels: Faile and Berelain

By Linda

When we first see Faile Bashere, she is a runaway princess turned huntress. She declares she is hunting the Horn of Valere, but her real quarry soon becomes Perrin. Faile and Perrin adore each other, but for much of the series they were ensnared in a triangle with Berelain, First of Mayene. This essay will explore the motifs and real-world parallels of these two women.

Here is a summary of Faile’s and Berelain’s themes:

Princesses and Court
Marriage and Marriage Goddesses
Arthurian Myth
Biblical
Temperance and Strength
Wildness
Hawk and Falcon
Nephthys
Leopard
Knowledge Goddess
Warrior Princess
Names

Princesses

Faile and Berelain start the series in ‘fairytale roles’: Faile, feeling trapped by her responsibilities, ran away to find adventure as a Huntress—the runaway princess; Berelain was carrying out her duties as a ruler, but had been taken prisoner by the Tairens (The Dragon Reborn, A Flow of Spirit)—the captive princess.

Both noblewomen ‘learn better’ throughout the series. Berelain behaves responsibly as a ruler, but irresponsibly intruded in Faile’s and Perrin’s relationship and was reluctant to accept the wrongness of this. Faile, the younger of the two, finally appreciated not only what her parents taught her about the duties of nobles, but why these are important. She takes her relationship with Perrin seriously, and has now stopped continually challenging Perrin to “prove his worth” by working out what she wants of him and meeting her unspoken demands without her having to do the same for him. In part, this jumping through hoops was designed to force him to show he is the stronger of the two and take the lead in the relationship. It is also in the tradition of courtly love.


Courtly love

Courtly love reversed the real status of women in medieval society by placing the lady above her knightly champion, giving her license to be demanding, capricious or dominating. It’s not surprising that an assertive noblewoman from the Borderlands, an area noted for chivalry, would follow the conventions of courtly love. However, Jordan as always puts his own take on it, and instead of two knights competing for a capricious lady’s favour, we have two capricious ladies vying for the same knight and thus supremacy over each other. Berelain vowed to Faile that she would take Perrin from her and Faile in turn privately determined that she would have him (The Shadow Rising, Customs of Mayene). Faile even challenged Berelain over Perrin’s honour; the challenge was a bluff, but the desire to repair Perrin’s reputation was real (Towers of Midnight, The Strength Of This Place).

Perrin was warned by Min in The Dragon Reborn in the aptly named chapter The Hunt Begins that two women, a falcon and a hawk, would sink their claws into him. When he met Faile, Perrin thought:

If she is the falcon, what is the hawk supposed to be? Am I going to be stuck with two women like her? Light!

- The Dragon Reborn, A Hunter’s Oath

Effectively he was. The two women have a lot in common as Faile herself admitted, which is why they have similar symbols. The hawk and the falcon (see below) are both fierce hunting birds, used by the nobility.

The main difference, as Perrin said, is that Berelain is not Faile and he loves Faile and married her. But he and Faile were not united enough that Berelain had no effect on their relationship.

It didn’t help that Faile was demanding and jealous, wanting Perrin to prove himself to her and to the world. Faile was mainly responsible for their marital problems, not Perrin, by over-reacting to Berelain, challenging her and competing with her over Perrin, and not discussing their marriage with Perrin to form a united front. It was not until her captivity forced her to grow that she realised her errors. On the positive side, she actively encourages Perrin to express his wild side, and thus she to express hers, so that the two of them can and do strengthen each other. Wildness and strength are two important aspects of their characters.

Marriage was an affair of state, not the heart, for Berelain until she met Galad, and so she had no regard for the damage she had done; she only saw Perrin as the prize and the playing board in her competition with Faile, a prize with strong connections to the Dragon Reborn. She first tried her charms on Rand, much to Elayne’s distress:

"How good a match he [Perrin] was is irrelevant. I was promised him."
"By whom?"
"The Lord Dragon," Berelain said.
"What?"
"I came to the Dragon Reborn in the Stone of Tear," she said. "But he would not have me—he even grew angry with my advances. I realized that he, the Dragon Reborn, intended to marry a much higher lady, probably Elayne Trakand. It makes sense—he cannot take every realm by the sword; some will have to come to him through alliances. Andor is very powerful, is ruled by a woman, and would be advantageous to hold through marriage."
"Perrin says Rand doesn't think like that, Berelain," Faile said. "Not so calculating. It's my inclination, too, from what I know of him."
"And you say the same thing about Perrin. You'd have me believe they're all so simple. Without a wit in their heads."

- Towers of Midnight, A Making

As far as she was concerned, her fellow noblewoman and rival Faile made just such an advantageous alliance.

Berelain’s most disgraceful actions are stalking Perrin after he is married and, whenever she obviously fails in her bid for Perrin, spreading lies that she has succeeded (A Crown of Swords, Old Fear and New Fear and Winter’s Heart, Flags). Now that has finally fallen hard for her man in white, Galad, fulfilling Min’s viewing (see Min's Viewings article), she understands the damage she did and is careful with Perrin’s, and therefore her, reputation by not being alone with him (A Memory of Light, The Last Battle).

Berelain equates straightforward with simplistic, open with empty. Yet Galad does not; he feels comfortable with Perrin because he is direct himself.

Strongly attracted to Perrin physically and politically, Berelain didn’t consider how closely Perrin’s feelings are engaged with Faile. Until she met Galad, courtly love for Berelain was more about court, than love. She has been calculating, not loving, and put politics above morality:

Faile hesitated. On one hand, what Berelain said was purely foolish . . . but on the other, she could see what the woman might have seen. Or, perhaps, what she wished to see. To her, breaking apart a husband and wife was nothing immoral. This was politics. And, logically, Rand probably should have wanted to tie nations to him through bonds of marriage to those closest to him.

- Towers of Midnight, A Making

(How Berelain’s attitude has changed since she met Galad: she thinks Galad perfect and worships him, just as knights did their ladies in the courtly love tradition (Towers of Midnight, A Terrible Feeling.))

With such selfish attitudes, her stalking, and her revealing clothing, Berelain represents Vice to Perrin, while Faile in her modest clothes represents Virtue (see Perrin essay). Perrin has to work with Berelain as part of the tasks Rand has given him; so in this sense Berelain is Duty and Faile is Love in his life. A strong hero choosing between Virtue and Vice or Duty and Love was a popular motif in the 15th to 17th centuries. The trio make a rather lop-sided love triangle.


Marital Issues: Jealousy, Fidelity and Manipulation

Faile’s jealousy led her to over-react and attack Berelain in Tear, which sparked the competition between the two women. As Berelain’s reply “and I always keep my promises” shows, Faile’s quite justified warning off of Berelain in Cairhien only made Berelain more determined to ‘win’ (Lord of Chaos, Thorns). As Berelain said when manipulated by Faile into abandoning the chase:

"Very well," she said. "So be it. Be proud of yourself, Faile. It is. . . rare that I take myself off a prize I have long desired."

- Towers of Midnight, The Strength of This Place

At times Faile resembles Carmen, the passionate and demanding Spanish gypsy and sometime flamenco dancer of Bizet’s opera, who declares:

"Love is a rebellious bird that no one can tame ... He has never known law. If you don't love me I love you, if I love you watch yourself!"

She slashes a co-worker with a knife, seduces the hero, and insists on her freedom.

Faile has her ‘Spanish’ side: she uses a red lace fan in A Crown of Swords, Old Fear and New Fear, promises to dance the sexy sa’sara for Perrin, and is noted for her passionate, jealous nature. She convinced Berelain that she would duel her in public for trying to take Perrin.

In that she is like the jealous and vengeful Greek goddess Hera.


Hera

Depicted as a regal youthful matron, Hera, the ancient Greek goddess of marriage, was noted for her jealousy. She had plenty of cause to exercise it: her husband and brother, Zeus, who has parallels to Perrin, (see Perrin essay) had many mortal and immortal lovers and children from them. Hera treated both lovers and children harshly.

Hera’s worship included agricultural rituals as is often the case with mother goddesses. Her children with Zeus were: Ares, god of war, Hebe, goddess of youth and handmaiden to the gods, Hephaestus, god of craftsmen and a parallel of Perrin, and according to some, Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, and Eris, goddess of strife.

All these aspects of Hera, including her children’s attributes, have resonances in Faile’s character. Faile is well respected by the Two Rivers women, and was even consulted by the four Wisdoms. She was involved in agriculture there, introducing irrigation and judging a land dispute, and in the battle against the Shadow.

Despite her high rank, Faile, like Hera’s daughter Hebe, has been a handmaid and even a laundry maid to those temporarily ranked higher. This is a minor but persistent motif. Faile was annoyed to be mistaken for Moiraine’s handmaid in The Dragon Reborn, The Hammer. In Cairhien, Colavaere made Faile a lady-in-waiting and pitted her against her rival Berelain, and during her captivity among the Shaido she was forced to be both handmaid and laundry maid to Sevanna (Knife of Dream, Something Strange).

Strife has surrounded Perrin and Faile since the beginning of their relationship and Faile’s mother was open in her expectations of the couple producing several children (Lord of Chaos, Beyond the Gate).

Perrin is not unfaithful, but was believed to be by many of his entourage. Unlike Zeus, Perrin is the pursued, not the pursuer, and unlike Hera, Faile has no reason to doubt him. That doesn’t stop Faile being jealous: she chased Calle Coplin off with a stick, warned Alanna off bonding Perrin, attacked Berelain in Tear and threatened to duel Berelain. Ironically Faile herself was pursued by Rolan as persistently as Zeus ever pursued anyone he desired.


Juno

Hera’s Roman equivalent was the goddess Juno, spouse of Jupiter (a parallel of Perrin). Juno watched over the finances of the Roman state and her temple on one of the Capitoline hills served as the mint. She was more war-like than Hera and was depicted wearing the goatskin cloak that Roman soldiers wore on campaign.

Faile claimed the contents of Sevanna’s tent to provide funds for the hundred thousand refugees of the Shaido with them. In the Two Rivers, she might have introduced the first ‘royalties’ program for generations:

In return for her consent and enough silver to buy supplies, Faile made the two Domani agree to give Perrin a tenth part of what they found, as well as to locate the iron mentioned in passing. Perrin would not like it, but the Two Rivers had nothing like taxes, and a lord was expected to do things and provide things that required money.

- Lord of Chaos Prologue

Like Juno, Faile also has her war-like side: she brought the Watch Hill bowmen to the battle of Emond’s Field and can use the bow as well as knives. Saldaean officers’ wives expect to accompany their husbands to war.

Arthurian Myth has a married couple in which the fulfilment of duty and the possibility of infidelity is an issue.


Enid and Geraint…and Elaine and Galahad

Geraint was a Knight of the Round Table who won Enid’s hand and became so obsessed with her that he ceased his knightly duties. This upset Enid, who cried over it at night, which led Geraint to mistakenly believe her unhappiness was a sign she preferred some other knight to him. He took her questing with him to prove to her his skill and commanded her not to speak to him. Enid disregarded this command several times to warn her husband of danger. Her love and faithfulness were eventually proven as was his prowess and they were finally reconciled.

Faile, like any nobly born Saldaean wife, would expect to go on a quest, but Perrin also had to take his stalker as well. The fidelity of both partners has been in doubt, although they have been faithful. Like Enid and Geraint, much of Perrin’s and Faile’s marital strain is due to poor communication. There have been uncomfortable and enforced silences in their marriage when Faile won’t talk and won’t explain where Perrin is ‘going wrong’ (as far as she is concerned). The lack of news about where and how Faile was held by the Shaido also nearly drove Perrin mad, as did the uncertainty of her fate in the Last Battle.

Perrin put aside his duties to concentrate on freeing Faile in Ghealdan. He didn’t want Faile to do her duties as she sees fit either, in case these place her in danger, and only now has acknowledged that he must accept that his loved ones can choose to participate in dangerous tasks. In the Last Battle he suggested Faile deliver the Horn of Valere and stuck to his duty to keep Rand safe, only searching for her after.

Another strong tie to Arthurian myth for these three characters is Berelain’s new-found object of desire, Galad. The perfect knight Galahad, a parallel of Galad, was conceived by Elaine, daughter of Sir Pelles (see painting, right)—and note that Berelain includes the name Elaine—when she dishonourably deceived Sir Lancelot into sleeping with her. Berelain thinks Galad “a perfect thing,” and she deceived people into thinking that Perrin slept with her. As he so often does, Jordan switched around the roles when using real world sources.


Jezebel

The biblical princess Jezebel of 1st and 2nd Kings has strong parallels to both Faile and Berelain:

Jezebel was the daughter of the priest-king Ethbaal, ruler of the coastal Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon (modern Sayda, Lebanon). When Jezebel married Ahab (ruled c. 874–c. 853 BC), she persuaded him to introduce the worship of the Tyrian god Baal-Melkart, a nature god. A woman of fierce energy, she tried to destroy those who opposed her; most of the prophets of Yahweh were killed at her command.


These cruel and despotic actions provoked the righteous wrath of Elijah; according to I Kings 17, he accurately prophesied the onset of a severe drought as divine retribution. Some time later, Elijah had the Baal priests slain after they had lost a contest with him to see which god would heed prayers to ignite a bull offering, Baal or Yahweh. When Jezebel heard of the slaughter, she angrily swore to have Elijah killed, forcing him to flee for his life.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica, Jezebel

Eventually Jezebel herself was killed by her eunuchs at the urging of Jehu, the replacement king of Israel. Jezebel came to be regarded as sexually promiscuous, manipulative or as a prostitute because she dressed alluringly to try and convince her executors she was too attractive to kill.

In Christian thought Jezebel is at best considered a pagan, or at worst an apostate in disguise seducing the righteous into committing idolatry and immorality.

Faile’s father is Lord of Tyr and Sidon as well as Bashere, and heir to the throne of the coastal nation of Saldaea.

The prophet Elijah is one of the sources for Masema. Masema thought he had the Creator on his side and that Perrin is Shadowspawn and thus not a creature of the Light. He was instructed to kill Perrin, whom he thought of as bull-necked. The wolves call Perrin Young Bull. Perrin the Wild Man and Wolfbrother has strong links with nature and Faile his Wild Woman encourages Perrin to express his wild side. She is not a Darkfriend, but she supports her husband rather than Rand:

"What about Rand? Why should it matter if he's left the Palace?" "Just that you should know what he's doing behind your back. Obviously you didn't know he was going off. Remember, he is the Dragon Reborn. That is very like a king, a king of kings, and kings sometimes use up even friends, by accident and on purpose."

- Lord of Chaos, Beyond the Gate

Perrin abandoned the task Rand set him—to bring Masema to Rand—to rescue Faile. She had no compunction in killing the Prophet.

Jordan has given some of Jezebel’s characteristics to Berelain, notably the way she uses her sexuality to manipulate. While Berelain has not abandoned the Light for the Shadow and is thus not apostate, she is a noble on the make (pagan) and distracted Perrin from his tasks.


Salome

Salome, (c AD 14‒between 62 and 71), was the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas infamous for her dancing:

But on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them: and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask of him. But she being instructed before by her mother, said: Give me here in a dish the head of John the Baptist. And the king was struck sad: yet because of his oath, and for them that sat with him at table, he commanded it to be given. And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his head was brought in a dish: and it was given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body, and buried it, and came and told Jesus.

- Matthew 14:6-11

The dance was believed to be so erotic as to lead Herod to promise anything and was embellished in later legends as the dance of the seven veils.

Faile promised to dance the sa’sara for Perrin one day:

"You've seen the tiganza, have you? Someday, if you are good, I may dance the sa’sara for you, and show you what a dance really is." Ila gasped in recognition of the name, and Faile went even redder than she had inside.
Perrin pursed his lips. If this sa'sara set the heart pounding any harder than the Tinker women's swaying, hip-rolling dance—the tiganza, was it?—he definitely would like to see Faile dance it. …
He smiled down at the top of her head. "But I won't have to. You promised to dance this sa'sara for me."
Her face went crimson. "Is it anything close to the tiganza? I mean, there is no point, otherwise."
"You muscle-brained oaf!" she snapped, glaring up at him. "Men have thrown their hearts and fortunes at the feet of women who danced the sa'sara. If Mother suspected I knew it—" Her teeth clicked shut as though she had said too much, and her head whipped back to face forward; scarlet mortification covered her from her dark hair down to the neck of her dress.
"Then there isn't any reason for you to dance it," he said quietly. "My heart and fortune, such as they are, already lie at your feet."
Faile missed a step, then laughed softly and pressed her cheek against his booted calf. "You are too clever for me," she murmured. "One day I will dance it for you, and boil the blood in your veins."

- The Shadow Rising, A Missing Leaf

a dance that is legendarily erotic.

Salome’s mother used her daughter’s dancing ability for her own purposes, while Faile thinks she’d be in trouble with her mother for even knowing the sa’sara. Despite Faile’s typically teenage denial of her middle-aged parent’s sex life, Faile’s mother might not only know the dance, but be able to give Faile a few pointers on performance.

What Deira Bashere is definitely angry about is that following Rand may cost Davram Bashere his head:

Deira's tone was icy as her face. She did not like him [Rand]; as she saw it, her husband had set off down a road that likely would end with his head on a pike over a gate in Tar Valon, and Rand had put his feet on that road.

- A Crown of Swords, Pitfalls and Tripwires

Ultimately, following Rand costs both Davram and Deira their lives.

Masema the Prophet, who preached about the Dragon Reborn, has parallels to John the Baptist to show the evil of the Shadow in corrupting the very person proclaiming the advent of the world’s saviour. Perrin had refused the urgings of the Wise Ones to have Masema killed despite being assured he represents a danger, because this would be contrary to Rand’s orders. Faile didn’t try to persuade Perrin to change his mind; being a warrior princess and a huntress, she killed Masema herself.

In the Gospel of Mark there is a Salome who was a witness to the Crucifixion of Jesus and was among the women who went to Jesus' tomb and was told that Jesus had risen.

While the seductive Salome is not considered to be the same person as Salome the follower of Jesus, they both might be conflated in Jordan’s world as part of his theme of the effect of time on history. Faile played an important part in the Last Battle by saving the Horn of Valere which summoned the dead to fight at Tarmon Gai'don.


Temperance and Strength

Perrin and Faile form a Strength/Temperance duo. Each helps the other to be as strong as they can be, strengthening the other as metal is tempered to make it stronger. Perrin is normally a temperate (moderate in all things, rather than merely sober) man unless provoked too far or in the thick of battle; Faile is normally tempestuous, but she watches over husband’s temper. He uses his love for Faile to control himself in the few circumstances he is intemperate—to prevent himself from staying in berserker mode or coming too strongly into Tel’aran’rhiod.


Temperance

[She] planned how she would meet his anger and turn it. There was an art to guiding a husband's anger in the direction you wanted, and she had learned from an expert, her mother.

- Winter’s Heart, Customs

Temperance is the virtue which defeats the deadly sin of wrath. It was popularly depicted in Renaissance and early modern times as a young woman pouring liquid from one cup to another—diluting wine, as shown on the Temperance cards of Lo Scarabeo's Tarot of the Master above right and Il Meneghello's Soprafino Tarot below left.


As described above, Faile represents Virtue in Perrin’s life (and Berelain Vice). Much to her annoyance, Faile has been a cupbearer and handmaid to Colavaere and Sevanna. The latter period of servitude was particularly dangerous and Faile was forced into a temperance role as well as into servitude, threading her group through three traps: those of Sevanna, Therava and Galina. Faile had to be the voice of reason and moderation, calming and focussing her liege women and men so they didn’t do something reckless or accidentally expose their plans. During her rescue, Faile realised she could not allay or divert her husband in his berserker rage and her group summoned all their fortitude and distracted or killed their Aiel allies to protect Perrin.


Strength

Bashere women are renowned for their strength of character. It is one of the qualities Faile admires in Perrin too:

the sort of man a woman knew she had to be strong to deserve, to equal.

- The Path of Daggers, Beginnings

Faile is strong for a woman, but not as strong as Perrin and try as she might, she can’t force him from his decisions:

She hung onto him, trying to pull him toward the inn, and so she was dragged along when he started the opposite way.

- The Shadow Rising, The Price of a Departure

She consciously gives strength to those close to or depending on her:

She had been taught to give those under her strength even when she had none herself, to soothe their fears, not infect them with her own.

- Lord of Chaos, Prologue

During the rescue of the Luhhans and Cauthons from the Whitecloaks, Faile was knocked down by Byar but got up and hit him over the head with a piece of firewood: like she said, she isn’t a porcelain figurine (The Shadow Rising, A New Weave in the Pattern).

In another rescue, Faile saved Berelain from a bubble of evil by lending her strength to help force Berelain’s dagger into the ground:

Gritting her teeth—feeling half a fool for helping the woman she hated—Faile jumped in and placed her hands over Berelain's, lending her strength to that of the First.
Together, they wrenched the dagger to the side, toward the ground, where they could drive its point into the earth. When they did, remarkably, it stopped moving.

- Towers of Midnight, Men Dream Here

Faile also gives Perrin strength; he says that with her at his side he could do anything (Towers of Midnight, The Strength of This Place).

In Renaissance times, Strength was often depicted as a woman wrestling a lion, a reference to the ancient Greek nymph Cyrene (see Lo Scarabeo Classical Tarot Strength card above right). The other popular illustration of Strength was a figure clasping or breaking a column—Samson, a parallel of Perrin, see Perrin essay and below.) The Strength card of the Mantegna Tarot card (of Il Meneghello, right) combines the two.


Cyrene

In Ancient Greek mythology, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypsesus, king of the Lapiths, a legendary people akin to the centaurs, and Chlidanope, a Naiad, a fresh water nymph. She was not the least bit interested in men and marriage, and was completely dedicated to hunting. Apollo encountered Cyrene wrestling alone with a lion, fell in love with her and carried her away. She bore him two sons: Aristaeus, a hunter like his mother, and Idmon, who followed his father in having the gifts of prophecy and healing, and also was one of the Argonauts.

Faile is Saldaean, a people famous for their horsemanship. She left her family responsibilities to be a Hunter of the Horn and named herself after a hunting bird. Perrin encapsulates the abilities of Cyrene’s twins, being a lupine Hunter of Trollocs who also has prophetic dreams. However, it was Faile who chased after Perrin, although her family questioned whether he seduced her (Lord of Chaos, Beyond the Gate). Perrin threatened to get her back by force if they took her from him.

In contrast to Faile, Berelain has undermined Perrin’s strength at times; notably that of his marriage. She could have been playing Delilah to Perrin’s Samson.


Delilah

The biblical hero Samson (Judges 13‒16) had been dedicated to service to God and was granted tremendous strength to combat God’s enemies and perform amazing feats so long as he did not touch wine or cut his hair. His bride was taken back from him by the Philistines and given to another man and eventually killed by the Philistines in revenge for Samson’s attacks on them. He fell for Delilah, who was approached by the lords of the Philistines to discover the secret of Samson's strength for a monetary reward. It took four goes but she managed to wheedle or perhaps seduce it out of him and sheared his hair while he slept. Weakened by Delilah, he was captured by the Philistines and enslaved. Samson prayed for one last burst of strength to kill these enemies of Israel, and collapsed his captors’ temple, killing the assembled Philistines as well as himself.

Perrin has been chosen by the Pattern as a ta’veren to restore events to their proper course and defeat the Shadow. The Dragon’s bannerman, he has great physical and inner strength. His wife was captured and tempted by another man. She was not killed but lost to him for a time.

Berelain seized the opportunity to set herself up to replace Faile, believing it unlikely Faile would return from Malden (Towers of Midnight, The Strength of This Place). She told Faile that if Perrin should overcome the rumour she spread that he had slept with her and learn to use rumour himself, it will make him stronger as man and ruler. Berelain was mistaken; Perrin was weakened by these Delilah-like actions. Actually, Berelain uses rumour and manipulation so much because she rules from a position of relative weakness, not strength.


Wildness

Perrin hunter of Trollocs and Wolf King is a Wild Man (see Perrin essay). Some Wild Men abduct noble maidens, others marry a Wild Woman—and live an idyllic life with her in the country far from the corruption of the world (Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, John Lindow (eds), Medieval Folklore). Perrin married a Wild Woman noble maiden and would love to live a quiet life with her in the idyllic Two Rivers. It is no accident that the wild couple re-cemented their marriage out in the wild and confided in each other there.

Signs of wildness in Faile are:

• Faile accepts adverse weather:
  
  

  “Cold and wet don’t bother me.”
  
  - The Dragon Reborn, The Falcon
  
  

• Faile was more comfortable sleeping in the open on the hill than in their tent (Towers of Midnight, Shanna’har).


• Her association with hunting: she ran away to become a Hunter for the Horn, is good with a bow and was taught to fight (The Shadow Rising, Hunter of Trollocs). The falcon is a hunting bird, and Faile actually went hawking in the books. Loial was angry that a wild, free creature like Faile was trapped by the wooden hedgehog ter’angreal (The Dragon Reborn, A Flow of Spirit). She is also described as a leopard, or having the heart of a leopard, another fierce hunting animal.


• When she was captured by the Shaido:
  
  

  She hoped that Sevanna thought her tamed by that night trussed up in the cold. Only Rolan and his braziers had saved her life. She hoped that she was not being tamed.
  
  - Knife of Dreams, Something Strange
  
  

  In contrast to Faile’s acceptance and encouragement of Perrin’s wildness, Berelain wanted to tame Perrin:
  
  

  “He is quite ravishing, really—those shoulders, those arms; not to mention those eyes of his—and if he is a bit uncultured, I can have that remedied. My courtiers can teach him how to dress, and rid him of that awful beard. Wherever he goes, I will find him and make him mine. You can have him when I am finished. If he still wants you, of course.”
  
  - The Shadow Rising, Customs of Mayene
  
  

Berelain always smells of flowers, whereas Faile uses a herbal scented soap; Faile is of the wild countryside, Berelain the garden. Berelain is also a huntress—of domesticated creatures.

”I despise being attacked, farmgirl, so this is what I will do. I will take the blacksmith away from you and keep him as a pet for as long as he amuses me.”

- The Shadow Rising, Customs of Mayene

Hawk and Falcon

Faile means falcon in the old tongue while Berelain’s sigil is the golden hawk in flight, as it was her ancestor Hawkwing’s. The hawk and the falcon are very similar birds, indicating that Perrin’s choice is a close one:

If she is the falcon, what is the hawk supposed to be? Am I going to be stuck with two women like her? Light!

- The Dragon Reborn, A Hunter’s Oath

The two women have a lot in common as Faile herself admitted. We are assured, however, that there is a difference between the hawk and the falcon:

"Do you know the difference between a hawk and a falcon, Perrin?"
"Size, mostly," he said. "Wing shape, too. The falcon has a more arrow-like look to it."
"The falcon," Faile said, "is a better flyer. It kills with the beak, and can fly fast and quick. The hawk is slower and stronger; it excels at getting prey that is moving along the ground. It likes to kill with the claw, attacking from above."
"All right," Perrin said. "But doesn't that mean that if both see a rabbit below, the hawk will be better at snatching it?"
"That's exactly what it means." She smiled. "The hawk is better at hunting the rabbit. But, you see, the falcon is better at hunting the hawk.”

- Towers of Midnight, A Backhanded Request

Hawk

The hawk is associated with light, royalty, power, and watchfulness. It is a symbol of wisdom in action because it has powerful eyesight, swift flight and great skill as a hunter. Berelain is a skilled ruler who watches over Mayene’s and her own interests. She used her two skilled thief catchers to find out Colavaere’s and Masema’s nefarious deeds. Her forces have aided Perrin.

In medieval times, the hawk was a symbol of venery, which can mean pleasure in sex or in the hunt. In the case of Berelain’s pursuit of Perrin, it was both.

There is an amusing scene in The Path of Daggers where the women are out hawking and Faile refuses the proffered hawk at first, because she would rather have the falcon which is reserved for its owner, Alliandre. Faile enjoyed being out in the woods in winter, but Berelain did not.

Falcon

The falcon is a symbol of liberty. As Loial said, Faile should fly free (The Shadow Rising, The Price of a Departure). It is associated with the sun and light and was believed to never sleep. Faile was taught that spying is a wife’s work to protect her husband’s interests. She intended to spy on Rand, but Perrin forbade it. She distracted him from forbidding her to spy on others, or using other people to spy for her.

The falcon is also associated with war, and can be a benevolent or destructive force. Faile is long accustomed to war and, like any high-born Saldaean woman, expects to accompany her husband to the battlefield (A Crown of Swords, A Crown of Swords) and rally his troops if he falls.

The Ancient Egyptian war god, Monthu was depicted as falcon-headed and bull-headed and could encapsulate Perrin (Young Bull) and Faile as a couple.

To the Japanese, Ainu the falcon is a helper of humanity, and for Native Americans it is the younger brother of the eagle (John and Caitlin Matthews, Element Encyclopaedia of Magical Creatures). It was Faile who suggested that Perrin fly the Red Eagle banner of Manetheren in Ghealdan and who tended the Two Rivers folk and refugees from the west, and the Shaido. The eagle links Perrin with sky gods such as Zeus (see Perrin essay).

Both Berelain and Faile aim to see all, and competed to get the more important information from their scouts.


Ra

The ancient Egyptians had two falcon or hawk-headed sky gods: Ra and Horus. Apart from the association with kingship, and the sky, neither Berelain nor Faile has much in common with Ra, but they do with Horus.


Horus

Horus was the Ancient Egyptian falcon-headed god of the sky and war. He was the protector of the ruler of Egypt and was noted for his sharp, protective gaze (Jack Tressider, Symbols and Their Meanings).

Set, the god of the desert, storms and chaos, killed Horus’ father, Osiris. Isis, Horus’ mother, told Horus to protect the people of Egypt from Set, which he did, battling Set repeatedly. Horus was sometimes identified with the Egyptian god Upuaut and also with Anubis.

Faile’s mother taught her that spying was a wife’s work. Berelain also sets people to gather information for her. Set represents the Shadow, the Dark One being the embodiment of chaos, destruction and infertility. Rand has parallels to Osiris, including being locked in a box and killed, as Osiris was by Set. Perrin has parallels to Upuaut and also to sky gods, and Mat to Anubis, so this group are closely linked.

The sibling-spouses Osiris and Isis had a sister Nephthys, who was the wife of Set.


Nephthys

Nephthys was a deity of the dead in Egyptian mythology. Her name means “Mistress of the House” and she was usually depicted as a woman with the hieroglyph of her name (a basket and a house on top of each other) on her head, but was also sometimes given wings (see photo right) or the form of a kite, an Egyptian hawk.

Nephthys deceived Osiris into having sex with her and bore him a son, Anubis. In some myths Nephthys intoxicated Osiris and seduced him, in others she disguised herself as her sister Isis, Osiris' wife. It was Nephthys' affair with Osiris which contributed to Set’s decision to kill Osiris.

Berelain has (mis)behaved like Nephthys. She tried seducing Rand in Tear, and then stalked Perrin and spread false rumours that they had an affair. Amusingly, she snubbed Mat because he is too much like her (The Shadow Rising, Rumours).

Nephthys supported the sun god Ra during his nightly boat journey through the underworld, especially at twilight, while Isis was Ra's companion at the coming of dawn. Isis represented day, growth, development and vigour, while Nephthys was night, decrease, decay and death (E. A. Wallis Budge, Gods of the Egyptians ). The two sister goddesses

were personified by two priestesses who were virgins and who were ceremonially pure; the hair of their limbs was to be shaved off, they were to wear ram's wool garlands upon their heads, and to hold tambourines in their hands.

- E. A. Wallis Budge, Gods of the Egyptians

Despite being the wife of Set, Nephthys was seen as a loyal sister to her other siblings, helping Isis to gather Osiris' scattered limbs after Set dismembered him, and resurrect him. A figure of divine assistance and protection, she aided the newly dead, giving them strength for their journey to the afterlife, and comforted the family of the deceased. Darkness and the dangerous fringes of the desert were considered her domain.

Berelain aided Rand and Perrin well at times, and furthered her own ends at Perrin’s expense at others. Upon Faile’s capture, Berelain offered sympathy to Perrin who rejected it. In her palace, she organised the retrieval and care of wounded soldiers, including Galad, who, like his brother Rand, lost part of his arm to a Forsaken. Groups were sent from Mayene to the battlefield to identify the dead and bring the wounded in for healing. Nephthys is an appropriate parallel of Berelain’s role in helping decide who could be saved, who healed by channellers and who by physical means. She sensibly sent the protective weave-breaking ter’angreal back to the battlefield.

Tuon has strong parallels to Isis (see Tuon essay) and she made a truce with Rand for the Last Battle. This ‘marriage’ of the two main forces and leaders is essential to winning against the Shadow. Tuon and Berelain are descended from Artur Hawkwing. The Seanchan Imperial family shave their heads, not their bodies.


Leopard
The women of House Bashere are described as leopards and Perrin agrees, thinking that Faile has the heart of a leopard (The Shadow Rising, The Price of a Departure).

The leopard symbolises aggression, courage and speed. In Africa, it is considered a passionate and unpredictable lover (John and Caitlin Matthews, Element Encyclopaedia of Magical Creatures). The Bashere women are brave and aggressive and Faile, at least, is a passionate and unpredictable lover.

In Tear, Faile behaved in a cat-like fashion, pacing up and down and regarding Perrin as a dog:

He ignored the sound coming from deep in Faile’s throat, like a cat staring at a strange dog and ready to attack.

- The Shadow Rising, Leavetakings

“I will not leave him,” Faile called. “Not even if he is yet too stubborn and foolish to ask a simple favour. Should that be the case, he may still follow me like a lost puppy. I promise to scratch his ears and take care of him.”

- The Shadow Rising, Into the Ways

And she wanted to tear Rolan’s throat out:

A few stripes might be a small price to pay for biting a chunk out of this oaf toting her like a sack of grain. Not his hand, though. His throat would be about right.

- Winter’s Heart, Customs

as a leopard would (or perhaps a she-wolf).

There are two leopard goddesses with parallels to Faile and both are associated with knowledge.


Knowledge

Seshat

In Egyptian mythology, Seshat was the Ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom, knowledge (especially architecture, astronomy, mathematics, and surveying) and writing. She was a scribe and record keeper and kept a tally of the Pharaoh’s years on earth. Seshat was depicted as a woman wearing a leopard or cheetah skin over her dress or a dress patterned like the coat of a spotted cat.

As eldest surviving child, Faile was supposed to keep the family accounts:

”That made me the eldest, and it meant I had to study account books and trading. While my younger brothers learned to be soldiers, while they were being readied for adventures, I had to learn how to manage the estates! It is the eldest's duty. Duty! It is dull, dry and boring. Buried in paper and clerks.”

- The Shadow Rising, Among the Tuatha’an

She feels a conflict between being a warrior princess (see below) and a goddess of learning. (Perrin, who tallied the length of time of Faile’s captivity with a knotted cord, has a similar conflict between his wild side and his constructive, nurturing side.) Her education has stayed with her though and come in handy, as Faile now recognises. In Towers of Midnight, she examined the quartermaster’s ledgers to help him (relatively) honest and fair. She didn’t dislike her training—she was adept at it; she ran from the expectation that she would do her duty (Towers of Midnight, Shanna’har).

Seshat’s representatives laid out the foundations of important buildings in order to establish their correct dimensions and sacred alignments and surveyed the land after the annual floods to re-establish boundary lines. Her priestess approved the inventory of foreign captives and goods gained in military campaigns.

Faile was involved in the reconstruction of the Two Rivers after the Trolloc invasion, introducing irrigation and fostering new crafts. She gave judgement on a land division dispute and claimed Sevanna’s goods after Sevanna was made captive. The large number of freed Shaido captives were under her care.


Saraswati

Originally a river goddess, Saraswati, the wife of Brahma the Creator, symbolizes fertility and prosperity (here they are together, right). The flowing symbolism of water was extended to mean other things that flow—thoughts, words, music—and she became the goddess of learning, intelligence, music, literature and all the arts. After all, knowledge moves along transport routes such as rivers. Saraswati is associated with purity and creativity, especially of literary and verbal communication. She is not bedecked with jewellery like, say, the goddess Lakshmi (a parallel of Tuon), but is dressed modestly—perhaps representing her preference of knowledge over material things.

One verse of the Rig-Veda (6,61,7) credits Saraswati, rather than the storm and war god Indra, an equivalent of Thor, Perun and Zeus and thus a parallel of Perrin, with killing Vritra, a serpentine demon who was hoarding the earth's water and so represented drought, darkness, and chaos.

Perrin met Faile beside a river, and got to know her on a boat. Three fish are the sigil of Saldaea, representing the importance of maritime and river trade and of irrigation to that nation. Faile hates fish (which ironically symbolise knowledge) just as she hated her duty to do the clerical work of Seshat—they symbolise why she ran away from Saldaea. She dresses modestly as Saraswati does and this also ties in with being a Wild Woman (see above). In the painting right, among the items Saraswati holds are a ploughshare and a bow and arrow, items that reflect Faile's activities in defending Emond's Field and promoting innovations in agriculture there.

Faile didn’t kill a Forsaken, but she did personally despatch Masema and the last of the Dragonsworn plague, knowing that Perrin wanted to keep to Rand’s orders and bring Masema to Rand.

Faile doubts the veracity of some of the written histories she read:

”I have studied my history and was taught to read between the lines.”

- A Crown of Swords, Old Fear and New Fear

and is also careful about the accuracy of reports she receives.

Faile tells us of some of her accomplishments:

Could she [Berelain] recite poetry while hawking? Could she ride in the hunt all day, then play the bittern at night while discussing how to counter Trolloc raids?

- The Shadow Rising, Customs of Mayene

None of the other important female characters speak of music or of being able to playing a musical instrument. (For instance, it would be quite in keeping with Elayne’s ‘Elizabethan’ parallels to be able to play a musical instrument but she doesn’t seem to. Other people play music to her babies.) Nor do they mention poetry either. Faile can also dance the sa’sara and knows the language of fans and the sign language of the Maidens. (Note that part of sa’sara is contained within the name Saraswati). Other knowledge she gleaned from Bain and Chiad, such as Maiden handtalk and how to behave to Wise Ones, was also used by her.

During her captivity, Faile consciously used her intelligence, logic and knowledge because as she said:

Her brain was the only weapon she had.

- Winter’s Heart, Customs

Even while being carried by Rolan and flexing her muscles to keep from freezing, Faile planned what Perrin should do about Masema, what she would say when Perrin got annoyed about her spies, and how to survive and escape the Shaido:

Frostbite and cut feet aside, the longer they remained outside without clothes, the more chance that some of them might not survive to escape. The Shaido had to be taking them to some sort of shelter, and Alliandre and Maighdin had delayed reaching it. Maybe it was little more than a quarter hour's delay, but minutes could be the difference between the living and the dead. On top of which, even Aiel would surely let down their guard a little once they found shelter and made fires. And they could rest, being carried. They could be ready to take their chance when it came.

- Winter’s Heart, Customs

Faile made the other captives see reason: she convinced Alliandre to behave like a proper servant, and kept those sworn to her from uprising against Shaido and getting themselves killed. The Aiel are all trained to fight, while the gai’shain were mostly farmers and craftspeople (Knife of Dreams, As If The World Were Fog). Finally she made Perrin allow Galina to be tried properly and not rush in and kill her (Knife of Dreams, Outside the Gates). This also ties in with Faile’s role as Temperance, moderating Perrin’s anger and actions (see above). Faile’s women survived the three traps laid for them, and were close to escaping on their own. They would have succeeded had not Galina been treacherous.

When they first met, Faile was conscious of her superior education, and lectured Perrin:

”I think I will end up teaching you so much, no one will notice the hay in your hair.”

- The Dragon Reborn, Easing the Badger

True. But she learned things herself. And made the most of them.


Warrior Princess

As Gaul observed, there is a good deal of the warrior in Faile:

“That one is almost Far Dareis Mai.”

- The Shadow Rising, Homecoming

She was taught to fight by one of her father’s old soldiers, which is unusual even in Saldaea (The Shadow Rising, Among the Tuatha’an). She is skilled enough with her knives to make Gaul warn Perrin.

It’s not surprising she got on so well with Bain and Chiad and they respected her enough to teach her Maiden hand-talk—something frowned upon and therefore rarely done, and all the more a credit to Faile. Faile proposed to Perrin like an Aiel and insisted on marrying him right then.

When Byar struck her during the rescue of the Cauthons and Luhhans, she got up and whacked him over the head with a piece of wood. Faile was excited and proud to lead men into battle in the Two Rivers—like a warrior princess. She gloated that Queen Tenobia had not done so despite wanting to.

Crucially it was Faile who insisted that Perrin bring not only her, but also the wolf banner, Two Rivers bowmen and servants with him to Rand (Lord of Chaos, A Bitter Thought), setting in train Perrin’s increase in leadership, Rand’s rescue at Dumai’s Wells and the destruction of the Shaido with Sevanna and the Dragonsworn.


Sif

Just as Perrin has many similarities to the Norse god Thor (see Perrin essay), so Faile has some parallels with Thor’s wife Sif and Berelain with Thor’s mistress Jarnsaxa.

Thor and Sif had a daughter, Thrud (‘strength’), and Thor and Jarnsaxa two sons, Magni (‘strong’) and Modi (‘angry’). Sif’s hair was shorn off by the trickster god Loki. Jarnsaxa was one of the nine mothers of Heimdall, the god who sounded his horn for Ragnarok (a parallel of Mat).

As usual, Jordan has changed the relationships somewhat. It is tricky Faile, Perrin’s wife, who wanted to shave all Berelain’s hair off for trying to seduce Perrin. Berelain snubbed Mat as “too much like her” (The Shadow Rising, Rumours) which is amusing given that Jarnsaxa was one of Heimdall’s mothers. The attributes of Thor’s children embody important issues for Perrin: anger and strength (see Perrin essay).

The two women are parallels of other Norse goddesses, the Valkyries.


Valkyries

The Valkyries (from Old Norse valkyrja "chooser of the slain") decided which soldiers die in battle and which live, and they took the dead to the halls of Valhalla. Berelain oversaw the hospital at the Last Battle, and organised groups of non-combatants to identify the dead and advised on which soldiers to save/Heal.

For Faile, the parallel is reversed, and it is Perrin who searched the battlefield for the missing and feared dead Faile, rather than Faile searching it for fallen soldiers. There are more reversals: Perrin found Faile in the real world from Tel’aran’rhiod, whereas in Tear he found her in Tel’aran’rhiod from the real world. Faile ran away to hunt the Horn of Valere which calls the Heroes to the Last Hunt at Tarmon Gai’don, the Wheel of Time Ragnarok and ironically became its guardian and saviour. Valkyries normally brought drinking horns to the Heroes, not the battle horn of Heimdall. (Faile and Berelain are not the only Wheel of Time Valkyries: Birgitte and Siuan the Rhine maiden are two others.) For the parallels of the Horn, Hornsounders and Heroes see the Horn of Valere article.


Names

Faile: Faile probably alludes to faille, a soft ribbed fabric of silk or rayon. It is slightly stiff and this makes it wrinkle-free and much harder-wearing than other evening fabrics, but it is still ironic that a tough woman like Faile, who is trying to shed her Zarine image, selects the name of an evening fabric, even a fairly durable one.

Fail is another possible allusion; it means ‘destiny’ in Gaelic. The Stone Lia Fail is said to have been brought to Ireland in antiquity by the semi-divine race known as the Tuatha Dé Danann. Faile was destined to be Perrin’s falcon and Perrin is linked with the Tuatha’an.

Zarine ni Bashere t'Aybara: Deira Bashere chose her daughter’s name and it reveals her hopes for her:

Zarine—no woman would name her daughter that unless she expected her to be a great beauty. One to lie on cushions in palaces, surrounded by servants and suitors.

- The Dragon Reborn, Daughter of the Night.

So Deira wanted Faile to have a rather Berelain-like image.

Zarina is a personal name meaning gold. Bashir is an Arab surname. It means "bringer of good news," or "a person who promises good things" in Arabic. Certainly Perrin believed he had struck gold in Faile, even though he had no idea she was a noblewoman.

Berelain sur Paendrag Paeron: Berelain contains the name ‘Elaine’ and may refer to Elaine of Arthurian myth, who loved Sir Lancelot and deceived him into sleeping with her whereby she conceived Sir Galahad. (The drawing right shows Elaine watching out for Lancelot, just as Berelain lay in wait for Perrin). Sir Lancelot discovered her deception and left her and Elaine died of unrequited love.

Berelain has been unscrupulous at times over Perrin and Elaine was prepared to do anything to win Lancelot. As Min predicted, Berelain fell hard for a man in white, Galad, a parallel of Sir Galahad.

Paendrag is from Pendragon, King Arthur’s surname and another tie with Arthurian myth.

There are two parallels for Paeron:

Eva Peron (Evita), second wife of Argentine president Juan Peron, who, during her husband's first term as president (1946–52), became a powerful though unofficial political leader, revered by the lower economic classes.

Although she never held any government post, Evita acted as de facto minister of health and labour, awarding generous wage increases to the unions, who responded with political support for Peron. After cutting off government subsidies to the traditional Sociedad de Beneficencia (Spanish: “Aid Society”), thereby making more enemies among the traditional elite, she replaced it with her own Eva Peron Foundation, which was supported by “voluntary” union and business contributions plus a substantial cut of the national lottery and other funds. These resources were used to establish thousands of hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the aged, and other charitable institutions. Evita was largely responsible for the passage of the woman suffrage law and formed the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949. She also introduced compulsory religious education into all Argentine schools. In 1951, although she knew herself to be dying of cancer, she obtained the nomination for vice president, but the army forced her to withdraw her candidacy.

- Encyclopaedia Britannica

Isabel Peron, third wife of President Juan Peron:

met Peron in either 1955 or 1956 and, giving up her career in show business, became his personal secretary, accompanying him in exile to Madrid, where they were married in 1961. She visited Argentina several times in the 1960s and early '70s, building support for Peron. When Peron finally returned to Argentina to run for president in 1973, Isabel was chosen as his running mate on the suggestion of Peron's close adviser Jose Lopez Rega. Peron's illness several times elevated her to the position of acting president, and when he died on July 1, 1974, she succeeded him in office.

Her regime inherited problems of inflation, labour unrest, and political violence. She attempted to solve the problems by appointing new Cabinet ministers, printing money to pay foreign debts, and imposing a state of siege in November 1974 as the country was on the brink of anarchy. The controversy surrounding her social-welfare minister Lopez Rega, who was forced into exile for graft and terrorist activities, did not help her situation. Moderate military officers urged her to resign, but she stubbornly refused; the economic and political situation continued to worsen, and on March 24, 1976, she was seized by air force officers and held under house arrest for five years. In 1981, she was convicted of corrupt practices, but she was paroled in the summer of that year and went into exile in Spain. Pardoned in late 1983, she submitted her resignation as head of the Partido Justicialista, the Peronist party, from her home in Madrid in 1985.

Berelain has twice left Mayene in order to further the interests and safety of her country. She governed troubled Cairhien for Rand during his absences though she was given no official title and followed Perrin into ‘exile’. In the Last Battle she converted her palace into a hospital for tending wounded soliders.

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Written by Linda, June 2010 and updated February 2014

Contributor: Moridin_2000