Something A Bit Different

By Linda


This post is the result of a cold and very wet long weekend, in which for once I have the opportunity to read and think and hopefully recover from a low grade virus that has dogged me for over a week. (The read-through posts are rewarding but their demanding timetable doesn’t really allow me to explore other areas at length.)

Anyway, I was reading Tom Shippey’s J.R. R. Tolkien; Author of the Century for reasons which will become obvious below, when this passage caught my eye:

A further feature which as far as I know no one has ever tried seriously to copy is Tolkien’s structuring of The Lord of the Rings, his use of narrative threads. For one thing the very careful chronological positioning, the cross-checking of dates or distances and phases of the moon would be hard to do accurately…

Yet on the next page Shippey mentions Robert Jordan as one of a group of modern fantasy authors whose works show

the importance of language, the importance of names, and the necessity for a feeling of historical depth

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

(which I agree with, especially regarding the names and history), so he knows of The Wheel of Time series. It is therefore surprising that Shippey didn’t notice that The Wheel of Time has more narrative threads than The Lord of the Rings and their complex timing (before The Gathering Storm, anyway) is very precisely interlaced. The alternative is that Shippey didn’t read the works of an author that he is recommending. Yet Shippey rails against literary critics who deplore an absence in Tolkien’s work of something that is actually there. So go figure.

He also says:

No one, perhaps, is ever again going to emulate Tolkien in sheer quantity of effort, in building up the maps and the languages and the histories and the mythologies of one invented world…

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

I would argue that Jordan has done just that in three out of those four areas of world-building. For instance, Jordan has catalogued histories and traits not only of minor characters, but even of characters we haven’t seen yet (and maybe never will).

However, Shippey does say that several of Tolkien’s emulators

may have superseded him, used his work only as a starting point for quite different directions , even in some respects to have outdone him.

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

This I do strongly agree with, and believe that Jordan is one of these authors. On the whole I found J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century to be insightful and well-written.

And now onto some comments on evil as portrayed by Jordan. Some years ago I wrote an essay on the End-Times (Eschatology) of the Wheel of Time series, which of necessity touched on the theology and I’ve been doing background reading prior to giving it a much needed expansion and update. (For those who are interested, the essay will be split into three). Shippey’s book is part of my research, since he discusses views of evil:

The Boethian view is that there is no such thing as evil, evil is only the absence of good. Furthermore, people in their ignorance often identify as evil things (like being under sentence of death) which are in fact and in the long run, or in the divine plan, to their advantage. Corollaries of this belief are that evil cannot create, “not real new things of its own”, and furthermore it was not created, it arose when human beings exercised their free will – withdrawing their service and their intentions from God.

The trouble with this view is that it is both highly counter-intuitive and in many circumstances extremely dangerous. One might, for instance, conclude that the proper response to it would be to become a conscientious objector. Evil after all is, according to Boethius, more harmful to the malefactor than to the victim and those who do it (or appear to do it) are more to be pitied than feared or fought.

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

This is the attitude that the Tinkers have. They speak of accepting the will of the Pattern, never fighting back when violence is committed against them or others. This is not due to cowardice, since they aren’t afraid to die when their time comes; an example being the Da’shain who stood and sang to a mad male channeller while killed them, thus buying time for others to escape. They believe that violence harms the perpetrator as much as the victim (The Eye of the World, The Travelling People).

We then get the bizarre extreme of the Amayar: conscientious objectors conscientiously killing themselves due to the certainty that the Dark One will break the Pattern they have been accepting and not wanting to ‘be there’ to be corrupted or destroyed by the Dark One when this happens. Considerate of them to spare the Dark One being further corrupted.

The alternative is that evil does exist, and is not merely an absence, and what is more it has to be resisted and fought, not by all means available, but by all means virtuous; and what is even more, not doing so, in the belief that one day Omnipotence will cure all ills, is a dereliction of duty. The danger is that this opinion leads to Manicheanism or Dualism: the belief that the world is a battlefield between the powers of Good and Evil, equal and opposite.

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

This is the main portrayal of evil in The Wheel of Time. Jordan says his theology is Manichean (though Zoroastrian would be even closer to the mark - see my essay) with the Creator and the Dark One eternally contending for the right to run a universe in their image.

In the last two books Rand showed what happens when evil is fought by any means and not just by virtuous ones. He was manipulated into doing so by the Shadow, because this corrupts the Land and thus weakens the Pattern. To reverse Herid Fel's insight, eroding belief and order gives the Dark One strength. An earlier example of unscrupulous good would be the Shadar Logoth evil, something very much in Cadsuane’s mind as she has striven to prevent Rand from emulating it.

Shippey then goes on to say that with two equally powerful deities, it can be:

a matter of chance which side one happens to choose.

- Tom Shippey, J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

This I think is going too far, and Jordan would strongly agree with me, since he has commented before on his belief in the existence of evil and the necessity to recognise it and fight it.

Mind you, Jordan does show characters that do follow this philosophy of choosing a side without true commitment: Darkfriends who signed up for personal advantage rather than a belief in the ‘rightness of evil,’ to put it ironically, and supposed Lightfriends who only do good by happenstance, no matter how parlous the times. In reality these are people who believe in only their own egos. There are also apostates (Padan Fain being one twice over) and double agents (like Verin).

Despite Jordan’s expression to the contrary, some readers have said that his two gods, the Creator and the Dark One, are not equal, due to one having imprisoned the other. But we don’t know how this happened. Looked at another way, there is the very real threat that the reverse can and may take place: that the Dark One will destroy the Creator’s work, create an alternative universe and lock the Creator away from it.

The Dark One, being currently outside the Pattern, labours under some difficulties. We have never seen him/her/it use their Power to its fullest. Always it has been tainted by the presence of the One Power. The Trollocs and Myrddraal, for instance, show traits of the original natural stock made by the Creator. Understandably, since their makers were humans, however evil and touched by the Dark One, not deities, and could not create without using something as a basis. Of necessity their foundation had to be something made by the Creator.

I think that the closest we have come to seeing the True Power truly is the mindtrap. It appears to have little taint from the Light in it. But ruthless as it is, it is not perfectly evil since there is, it has been stated, a way to escape it. Something truly evil would have no escape. I can conceive of an evil deity being able to create evil without having to twist good.

I hope that A Memory of Light will show us the full Dualistic theology that Jordan devised, with some revelation (pun intended) of the Dark One’s evil power as a very real and equal rival of the Creator.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #12: Chapter 5 - Writings

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT


Gawyn POV

Sleete is an odd Warder with his long hair and unshaven face. Wilder seeming than the average Warder, he is, however, careful and observant. He noticed the forced door and the scrap of black silk. He speaks to Gawyn as an equal, when Gawyn is still a Lord rather than a Warder.

Which brings us to the question: why would Hattori want a second Warder when she hasn’t tasks to occupy Sleete? Is it like getting a second dog to keep the first company?

Sleete is underused in his role, as is his Aes Sedai Hattori. He’s bored, probably, and his unkempt appearance may be a silent protest against the Aes Sedai ranking system. Sleete and Hattori show us the unfairness of a system where, no matter the skill, experience or judgement of someone, they are permanently relegated to the bottom on an innate measure. In a way he is meant as a foil to Gawyn, to show what it is like for well-trained and adept men to be placed in lesser roles.

Finally Gawyn starts to think of how he was trained to behave and act instead of just losing his temper or using force. Yet even thinking of his mother’s example diverts him into wanting to kill Rand in revenge for his mother. He is ashamed of his bullying, but not of condemning someone without evidence, only hearsay. Gawyn’s mood is still all over the shop.

The official explanation of four Aes Sedai deaths is that the Black Ajah are killing them after arriving by gateway. In this chapter Gawyn is more logical and open-minded than Aes Sedai, which means their judgement is dire indeed. The Aes Sedai are convinced they know what is going on, and so ignore evidence, eg that no channelling has been sensed. Egwene might argue that the killer/s disguised their ability and wove reversed weaves, but the Black Ajah only knows how to do the latter, not the former. If the Black Ajah had this skill, they would have killed with the Power, because a knife is slower and potentially messier for the killer. Had any Aes Sedai tested for resonance or read the residues, as the rebel delegation sent to the site of the Cleansing did, they would have found out that no channelling was used at all.

Gawyn realises Egwene is holding back information and manages to pry it out of her. She believes the crimes are all the responsibility of Mesaana. She can’t see that more than one power would be out to destroy the Tower at this time even though at least three powers – Shadow, Seanchan and Whitecloaks – are known to want to do so, and one attacked a short while previously.

Gawyn has correctly deduced that the murders are being committed by an assassin. He says the investigations are making a lot of assumptions, yet he did over Rand supposedly killing his mother. His suggestion to Chubain to question servants, to see if an assassin is among them or if they have noticed something, is a good one.

This highlights the fact that the Tower has no police. The Aes Sedai police themselves and the people in Tar Valon. In future I think the Red Ajah will police channellers and may have Warders to help them (see this theory).

Kateri Nepvue, the young White who ignored Egwene’s warning and worked with her back to door, symbolically turned her back on the supposedly mundane doings in the Tower. Unfortunately they were less mundane than she thought. Working with your back to the door is very bad feng shui – for obvious reasons. Her name is a nod to Kate Nepveu who does the Lord of the Rings re-read on Tor.com.

The books have been opened to any man to try out for Warder, just as they are for women to test for novice. The old Warder grounds represent part of Gawyn’s past and haunt him. He notes in passing that Elaida’s palace, which she planned to be large enough to rival the Tower, is still there. This building may play an important role in the future when the male and female channellers unite.

Egwene won’t allow those who don’t believe in her authority to serve her. She is formal with Gawyn to push her Amyrlin role at him until he accepts it. She thinks he is not obedient enough to be trusted or can’t be trusted to be obedient when he needs to be.

Egwene and Gawyn argue over nearly everything, while thinking the other is unreasonably refusing to see the merits of what they say. When Gawyn presses Egwene to get sisters to take Warders, she immediately defends the sisters’ rights, while Gawyn thinks of the sisters’ responsibilities:

“The Aes Sedai are assets that belong to humanity. You cannot afford to let them go about unprotected."

- Towers of Midnight, Writings

Considering the times, he is right, as Egwene grudgingly admits. Aes Sedai are supposed to serve humanity, not just themselves, whatever the times.

Gawyn objects strongly to Egwene’s request to stop guarding her door. He is appalled she is using herself for bait. Desperation at trying to stop the murders has led her to this step worthy of Gawyn in its recklessness. And I’m reminded of the Tower law that applies unless martial law is operating:

The Amyrlin Seat being valued with the White Tower itself, as the very heart of the White Tower, she must not be endangered without dire necessity, therefore unless the White Tower be at war by declaration of the Hall of the Tower, the Amyrlin Seat shall seek the lesser consensus of the Hall of the Tower before deliberately placing herself in the way of any danger, and she shall abide by the consensus that stands.

- A Crown of Swords, A Pair of Silverpike

The Tower hasn’t officially declared law on anybody. This law has been in force for over two thousand years (after the Black Ajah revealed itself in the Trolloc Wars) and restricts Amyrlins from travelling abroad without the Hall’s permission, little knowing how much danger an Amyrlin could find at home.


Egwene POV

The tea has not spoiled. Is this the case for foodstuffs that were in the Tower when Rand visited and were “blessed” by his presence, or is it stock imported from Caemlyn and thus under the protection of those linked to Rand? It could be either, since food has been staying wholesome near Rand and his three ladies. Mat and Perrin also extend a preserving influence, as we saw with Perrin in Chapter 2.

Egwene can’t keep aloof from Gawyn because she is finding him irresistible. He clouds her judgement and she fears it would be worse if they bonded. It might help each trust and understand the other though. Later when they do bond it is after Gawyn has shown her his merits while letting her do her role.

Egwene is writing to Darlin that Rand plans to break the Seals hoping he will join her coalition against this, because Rand trusts and respects Darlin and therefore would take notice of his objections.


Graendal POV

Graendal’s pet is probably High Lady Alteima who was in Caemlyn when she went there and killed Asmodean. Alteima hasn’t been seen since that day.

Graendal is in hiding or self-imposed exile after Aran’gar’s death. Her lair is remote and uncomfortable, somewhere she would never be predicted to be. Yet she knew that she could not hide from the Dark One due to the ties she has to him, so it is a futile gesture, something she has never made before.

Graendal is predictable so she can occasionally do the unexpected to her advantage or others’ detriment. On the other hand, Moridin acts predictably insane so others don’t see – or even look for - any pattern to his actions.

Speaking of his “insanity”, Moridin has a fire burning when the day is already warm. It makes Graendal uncomfortable and adds to her fear. Soon she has trouble maintaining composure and ignoring temperatures near Moridin and feels he has some influence of the Dark One. It is probably really so, but he is also manipulating her so she is more susceptible to it and intimidated by it.

Before the intimidation takes too strong a hold, she pretends to be loyal and obedient and manages to persuade Moridin that her confusion was not feigned (even though he was sceptical) and that she deliberately let Rand find her and kill hundreds of people. Aran’gar was just unfortunate collateral damage because she did not flee. Graendal claims this was all her plan to make Rand feel pain – in this case via guilt:

This event would not sit easily within him, and speaking of him as Lews Therin to Moridin would reinforce that. These actions would tear at al'Thor, rip at his soul, lash his heart raw and bleeding. He would have nightmares, wear his guilt on his shoulders like the yoke of a heavily laden cart.
She could vaguely remember what it had been like, taking those first few steps toward the Shadow. Had she ever felt that foolish pain? Yes, unfortunately. Not all of the Chosen had. Semirhage had been corrupt to the bone from the start. But others of them had taken different paths to the Shadow, including Ishamael.
She could see the memories, so distant, in Moridin's eyes. Once, she'd not been sure who this man was, but now she was. The face was different, but the soul was the same. Yes, he knew exactly what al'Thor was feeling.

Towers of Midnight, Writings

She is right, but it is insight after the event and serendipity as far as she is concerned. Graendal’s commentary on her and Moridin’s descent into evil shows the path Rand nearly went down. This scene also shows what you can achieve if you lie well enough. Note that Graendal did not jump to conclusions about Moridin’s identity. Unlike other more impulsive and opinionated characters.

The Dark One speaks directly to Moridin, an indication he is so strong that there is little time left before he is freed of his prison. Graendal has to get on quickly if she wants to take Moridin’s place. Her description of the Dark One’s avatar as “that horrid creature Shaidar Haran” sounds Enid Blytonish to me.

When ordered to stay away from Rand, Graendal says she wants to strike at Perrin. This is to gain standing with the Dark One and Moridin since they commanded in Knife of Dreams that Mat and Perrin be killed. It is the most advanced of her plans, so perhaps she was already planning to gain credit this way, and thus the most likely to succeed, as well as being something the Dark One and Moridin want. Graendal knows it will ruin Rand if Perrin falls. Moridin says it will do far more because he knows the three ta’veren form a tripod which supports the world and that all three are needed at the end to win against the Dark One. It shows Mordin’s level of knowledge, due to his study of the Prophecies, his knowledge of theology, his closeness to the Dark One and perhaps his talent for Tel’aran’rhiod.

Moridin has been collecting objects of the Power to deprive others of them as much as have them for himself. From his thoughts in The Path of Daggers he is personally not that interested in ter’angreal:

It was possible they were carrying away some item he could use - an angreal attuned to men, perhaps - but the chances were small. For the rest, the ter angreal, the greatest likelihood was that they would kill themselves trying to puzzle out how to use them. Sammael was a fool to have risked so much to seize a collection of no one knew what, but then, Sammael had never been half as clever as he thought.
He himself would not disrupt his own plans merely on the off chance, to see what scraps of civilization he could find. Only idle curiosity had brought him here. He liked to know what others thought important. But it was dross.

The Path of Daggers, Unweaving

Of course he might have changed his mind since. Moridin has a strong influence on the Black Tower and after Sammael’s death, the Black Tower stripped his Illian apartments. Perhaps those objects ended up here, locked away from possible theft. Graendal is greedy for the ter’angreal and tries to ask for one, which annoys Moridin. I think it is out of character for her to be so clumsy. She had only just avoided some stiff punishment.

Moridin lends her a dreamspike and Slayer to kill Perrin. The other dreamspike is at the Black Tower, with Moridin’s knowledge and permission, trapping Aes Sedai and Asha’man to be turned to the Shadow, as we shall see, again showing his strong links to the Black Tower. Interesting that there is a key to dreamspikes (I have collected what is known of them here).

Surprisingly, he shows Graendal the Shadow’s prophecies. She had no idea they existed. Few know of them, even among the Chosen:

"They have long been known to me," Moridin said softly, still studying the book. "But not to many others, not even the Chosen.”

Towers of Midnight, Writings

So some who do know are not Chosen? Would these be Isam, or Asha’man, or the highest ranked, non-channelling Darkfriend/s? And few, if any, of the Chosen know of them besides Moridin himself. Why then did he show them to Graendal?

Moridin sounds rather like the Dark One to Graendal, so he really has the weight of the Dark One’s authority. He forbids Graendal to kill any more of the Chosen until Perrin is dead. This is a hint that Graendal killed Asmodean and that Moridin knows this.

Both study the book of the Shadow’s prophecies covered in pale tan leather. Human leather is pale and the book cover may be one of the Shadow’s many parallels to Nazism. Some Nazis had articles made from the tanned skin of those killed at concentration camps. Both Ishamael and Graendal have parallels to Nazi officials who were propagandists (Hitler (Ishamael, but the Dark One more so, see Three Strands Common to the Forsaken article) and Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister (Graendal and Ishamael)), or owned articles covered in human leather (Himmler, Hitler’s head of the SS (Ishamael), and Ilse Koch, an SS overseer at Buchenwald concentration camp (Graendal, see Graendal essay).

The Foretellers for the Shadow were held in isolation. The Shadow keeps knowledge to itself. Their prophecies appear to say Perrin will die by the Shadow’s hand (but Moridin predicts not by Graendal’s hand, which is true so far). Moridin says there may be other interpretations, but he believes their interpretation is correct, anyway.

His command to Graendal to bring him “the head of this wolf” indicates that the passage they were looking at may be this part of the epigram:

In that day, when the One-Eyed Fool travels the halls of mourning, and the First Among Vermin lifts his hand to bring freedom to Him who will Destroy, the last days of the Fallen Blacksmith's pride shall come. Yea, and the Broken Wolf, the one whom Death has known, shall fall and be consumed by the Midnight Towers. And his destruction shall bring fear and sorrow to the hearts of men, and shall shake their very will itself.

Towers of Midnight, closing passage

For alternative interpretations of this passage see here. If this was the passage they looked at, their interpretation may not be correct. The Broken Wolf whom Death has known could be Isam rather than Perrin, but more of this in the link and in the last read-through instalment for Towers of Midnight. We really don’t know which prophecy they read.

In earlier times wolves often had a bounty on their heads due to the danger they posed to the populace. Someone declared a wolf’s head was declared outlaw. Perrin was exiled by Rand and carries a wolf head banner (see Perrin essay). He is an outlaw because he killed Whitecloaks.

Moridin’s thoughts earlier may imply that Graendal shouldn’t be able to see True Power weaves:

The True Power, drawn directly from the Great Lord, could neither be seen nor detected except by who wielded it.

A Crowns Of Swords, Patterns Within Patterns

True, Graendal is allowed to draw on it weakly, but the quoted passage implies that only the weaver can see what the True Power is doing. Secret knowledge again.

The Gathering Storm Read-Through #53: Chapter 50 - Veins of Gold

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

This is a wonderful chapter, even without considering that it was finished by another author.

Rand sits at the top of the world, but isn’t feeling on top of the world; he’s about as low as he can go (a critical example of the reversal of order the Dark One has wrought). Dragonmount’s vent is on his left, as is his own side wound. For so much of what Rand does and remembers in this scene, it is indeterminable whether these are his own insights or memories from Lews Therin, although for the philosophy of reincarnation, it is largely the same thing. Rand is blending with Lews Therin before his epiphany. Had he not, he would never have undergone this transformation because he wouldn’t have listened to, or perhaps even been talked to, by Lews Therin.

His nausea when reaching for the Power seems to be due to his creeping corruption, and not from the conflict between his Lews Therin and Rand personalities. After all, he is blending with Lews Therin here and yet feeling sicker than ever. The worst attack was when he tried to commit genocide with the Power.

Rand is also linked even closer to Moridin, to the extent that he is considering the validity of Moridin’s philosophy:

"What if he is right?" Rand bellowed. "What if it's better for this all to end? What if the Light was a lie all along, and this is all just a punishment? We live again and again, growing feeble, dying, trapped forever. We are to be tortured for all time!"

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

A terrible thing for the Light’s champion to say or feel, but then being the Light’s champion is no picnic. Rand muses on what his role is: the sheltering hand or the slaying hand (the one holding the sword)?

What was he? What was the Dragon Reborn? A symbol? A sacrifice? A sword, meant to destroy? A sheltering hand, meant to protect?
A puppet, playing a part over and over again?

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

His inner turmoil is now an existential crisis. From what Graendal says in Towers of Midnight, many of the Forsaken had a severe crisis (moral?) before they turned to the Shadow:

How will Lews Therin react to what he has done? Destroying an entire fortress, a miniature city of its own, with hundreds of occupants? Killing innocents to reach his goal? Will that sit easily within him?"
Moridin hesitated. No, he had not considered that. She smiled inwardly. To him, al'Thor's actions would have made perfect sense. They were the most logical, and therefore most sensible, means of accomplishing a goal.
But al'Thor himself . . . his mind was full of daydreams about honor and virtue. This event would not sit easily within him, and speaking of him as Lews Therin to Moridin would reinforce that. These actions would tear at al'Thor, rip at his soul, lash his heart raw and bleeding. He would have nightmares, wear his guilt on his shoulders like the yoke of a heavily laden cart.
She could vaguely remember what it had been like, taking those first few steps toward the Shadow. Had she ever felt that foolish pain? Yes, unfortunately. Not all of the Chosen had. Semirhage had been corrupt to the bone from the start. But others of them had taken different paths to the Shadow, including Ishamael.
She could see the memories, so distant, in Moridin's eyes. Once, she'd not been sure who this man was, but now she was. The face was different, but the soul was the same. Yes, he knew exactly what al'Thor was feeling.
"You told me to hurt him," Graendal said. "You told me to bring him anguish. This was the best way."

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

His actions, had he carried them out, would have qualified Rand for Forsaken at the least, as Graendal implies with her thoughts that feeling manipulated into doing dark deeds and agonising about them afterwards are the first steps toward joining the Dark One. The pressure and peril of Rand’s role, his anguish at being manipulated to unwilling evil and his trauma at the abuse, as well as the demands heaped on him, have led to this.

Rand’s thoughts show that he was always aiming for hardness rather than strength:

He had thought that if he made himself hard enough, it would take away the pain.

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

He is in pain because the Shadow is wounding the Land and the people and Rand is one with the Land and champion of the people. The Shadow has wounded him personally, too, in order to strike at the Land as well as him.

Rand believes everything began to go wrong after Moiraine’s death, which he caused. But we know Moiraine isn’t dead. Therefore perhaps things are not wrong at all. Rand had hope before Moiraine “died”, and it died when she did. But she isn’t dead, just gone, and his hope likewise isn’t irrecoverable; both return after great suffering.

In Rand’s mind, Moiraine’s death is associated not only with losing hope, but being put in a box. The chapter encapsulates the underlying premise, the basic theme Jordan wanted to explore in this story: what would be like to be a messiah?

"What if you were tapped on the shoulder and told you had to save the world?"

- Robert Jordan in an interview

And one under sentence not just of death, but corruption and madness as well. The pressures have caused changes in Rand:

He understood what would be required of him, and he'd changed in the ways he thought he needed. Those changes were to keep him from being overwhelmed. Die to protect people he didn't know? Chosen to save mankind? Chosen to force the kingdoms of the world to unite behind him, destroying those who refused to listen? Chosen to cause the deaths of thousands who fought in his name, to hold those souls upon his shoulders, a weight that must be borne? What man could do these things and remain sane? The only way he had seen had been to cut off his emotions, to make himself cuendillar.

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

but finally he will be backed into adopting the philosophy that “the more things change, the more they stay the same" (after all, that’s how Jordan’s Pattern of Ages works).

Rand has been chosen by the Pattern or Creator, but in the quote above he makes it seem as though he is little different from those who chose to turn to the Shadow – the Chosen. It’s a matter of how Rand imposes his mission and, in his darker moments, his will, on the people.

To his and the world’s great cost, Rand thinks having feelings is a failure, and that the pain he experiences will bleed him dry. His conscience vanished when he tried to kill Tam. Now Rand is worried that having reached his goal to feel nothing, he is too unfeeling and possibly amoral:

Without that voice, did Rand dare continue? If it was the last remnant of the old Rand—the Rand who had believed that he knew what was right and what was wrong—then what did its silence mean?

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

Bad news is what it means.

Rand immediately puts these valid concerns aside and expresses despair about the cycling of time and being reborn to remake mistakes. He also rages against lapses of time causing loss of knowledge and history. Moridin, too, was angry at the knowledge that had been lost to him through history:

The reasons, like the source of the name, were lost in the mist of time. That troubled him sometimes, enraged him, what knowledge might be lost in the turnings of the Wheel, knowledge he needed, knowledge he had a right to. A right!

- The Path of Daggers, Prologue

but Moridin wants the knowledge for himself; he’s not worried about the effect of ignorance on others’ lives.

Jordan’s opening philosophical paragraph:

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose around the alabaster spire known as the White Tower. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

- The Gathering Storm, Tears From Steel

is rephrased by Rand in a dark way at the book's end:

"We live the same lives!" he yelled at them. "Over and over and over. We make the same mistakes. Kingdoms do the same stupid things. Rulers fail their people time and time again. Men continue to hurt and hate and die and kill!"
Winds buffeted him, whipping at his brown cloak and his fine Tairen trousers. But his words carried, echoing across the broken rocks of Dragonmount…
"What if I think it's all meaningless?" he demanded with the loud voice of a king. "What if I don't want it to keep turning? We live our lives by the blood of others! And those others become forgotten. What good is it if everything we know will fade? Great deeds or great tragedies, neither means anything! They will become legends, then those legends will be forgotten, then it will all start over again!"

The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

The wind, prana or chi, the breath of Life that initiates each book has been whipped into a tempest by Rand’s rage.

The chapter title Veins of Gold refers to love, Tears from Steel, anguish. There is an acceptance in the ‘standard’ version of the philosophy that is not in Rand’s rages. He regards this world as illusion and a vale of tears and rails against the right and proper order that is the Pattern. Like the Amayar, he nearly ended the Time of Illusion, so disillusioned was he with the Pattern and his crushing role to save it. The Cycle of Ages is meaningless to Rand in his current state. History forgotten over time means there is a risk that the same errors are repeatedly made. Is Rand not doing exactly that right now? He doesn’t know all his past lives yet; not the ones with joy and love, only Lews Therin’s traumatic later life. These kinder, more balanced memories transform Rand and he sees the point, the purpose, of the Wheel. He has found insupportable the impartiality of the Pattern, which seemingly is not taking sides (although it has given Rand a big help by making him so strongly ta’veren.)

Rand knows pain of heart as Moridin ordered, although it has backfired on the latter. So while Rand is thinking that Moridin’s philosophy of nihilism might be worthwhile and that Moridin might be right, Moridin is feeling exhausted by Rand’s duty, pain and turmoil and looks forward to the end. Moridin can’t separate his own feelings too easily from Rand’s:

"I feel so tired," Moridin continued, closing his eyes. "Is that you, or is it me?

- The Gathering Storm, A Place To Begin

Not only does Rand think Moridin might be right, he no longer feels the wrongness of the Shadow, so strongly is he influenced by his link to Moridin.

The Creator’s champion declaiming:

What if the Light was a lie all along, and this is all just a punishment? We live again and again, growing feeble, dying, trapped forever. We are to be tortured for all time!"

The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

shows very dark religious feelings indeed. There must be hope and love or life is untenable.

Yet when Rand drinks in saidin, the male elixir of life made by the Creator, he feels glory.

Dragonmount might have had a tremor due to Rand holding so much saidin (and rage). Men are strong in Fire and Earth, after all.

It is true that the Dragon left the world wounded (by both world war and the Dark One’s taint), limping forward as civilisation collapsed, but Rand thinks it was rotting. Not so; only now is it rotting because the Shadow (and the madness from the taint, which makes men rot) has a strong hold on him who is one with the Land.

Graendal complains how hard it is to get good wine with everything rotten, but Moridin provided some. Is this a reverse influence from Rand through their link, or an example of changing places in a way?

Rand is holding more Power than when he cleansed saidin because then he was in a circle with Nynaeve and the overall strength of the circle is not as great as the separate strengths of each channeller in it added together, no matter how large the circle, so a channeller can’t draw as much Power as they normally could (The Path of Daggers, The Breaking Storm).

While Rand is so dark, he is repeatedly described with solar imagery (so we don’t lose hope ourselves in the outcome of his long dark night of the soul, a sign he will come about on the winds of despair):

He felt himself alight with the Power, like a sun to the world below…He was the sun. He was fire. He was life and death.

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

His warmth gives light, his burning rage death.

The role of the Light's champion is rough with so little support from the Creator: only the one contact with the Creator in The Eye of the World, when the Creator told Rand he wouldn’t take a direct part. The Forsaken have far more contact with the Dark One, who is a paranoid out-of-control freak. This is reassuring to them, but also very threatening.

The Last Hour as Rand described it to Tuon in another chapter whose title is the antithesis of this one:

"You believe the Last Battle is close, then?" she asked.
"Close?" al'Thor asked. "It is as close as an assassin, breathing his foul breath upon your neck as he slides his knife across your skin. It is close like the last chime of midnight, after the other eleven have struck. Close? Yes, it is close. Horribly close."

- The Gathering Storm, A Halo of Blackness

almost occurred in this chapter:

The Power hesitated inside him, like the headsman's axe, held quivering above the criminal's neck.

- The Gathering Storm, Veins of Gold

The battle within Rand was almost the last battle. It was Lews Therin and Tam who provided the input that made Rand change his view. The Creator believes in individual choice, the Dark One in his personal will. When Rand understands the purpose of the Pattern, and indirectly, choice, he remembers all his lives and also communes with the Land/Creation in the light of the globe in the hand of the access key. The sa’angreal represents Rand holding the world in his hand. And not breaking it after some consideration.

His epiphany occurs when Rand realises that rebirth gives souls the chance to love each other and be with each other again. Rand expresses the desire to fix his mistakes and get it right this time. History repeating is a chance to change outcomes for the better, not just the certainty that people will make the same mistakes repeatedly.

Rand is no longer going to crush the world that is in the palm of his hand, but shelter it (or help the Creator shelter it) and so destroys the sa’angreal and access key that symbolised the potential to destroy Creation.

Having removed the temptation of absolute power, there are signs that he is an even stronger channeller alone in Towers of Midnight than he was with the sa’angreal.

Rand is at one with the world and with Lews Therin and at peace within himself. Clouds open as his gloom lifts and he sees the sun. It shines on him. He has finally relearned laughter, at least, as Cadsuane wishes, although she didn’t have much to do with it. Therefore I don’t think this is the thing that Cadsuane is to teach all the Asha’man that Min saw in her viewing (A Crown of Swords, A Crown of Swords).


For a chapter almost exclusively about Rand, there is a lot of the Forsaken in it.

The Gathering Storm Read-Through #42: Chapter 39 - A Visit From Verin Sedai

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Egwene thinks Verin only recently returned to the Tower from somewhere. Verin says she dropped Tomas off to his family and implies it was a short while before. It has been about 27 days since Verin left Mat. Sanderson said that Verin’s letters had some redundancies in case any of her instructions were ignored or went astray.

This interview with Verin makes Egwene fully realise the risk she has run in taking forkroot. Any Black sister could have killed her had she been alone (but they want her alive and fuelling the division.) To justify her complacency and over confidence she says who could anticipate running into a Black sister. Yet back in The Dragon Reborn she was a lot more careful.

Verin twice suggests to Egwene in this final and desperate conversation that Egwene thank Laras for her. This is something like a last request, and Verin makes it before she even explains her activities and hands Egwene the coded book; the latter should be more important, yet the former takes precedence in Verin’s mind. She tells Egwene that Laras is not a Darkfriend, and is trustworthy and extraordinary. I hypothesise Verin is nudging Egwene to see Laras because Laras will tell Egwene something or give her something vital (eg the Horn of Valere). My theory is detailed here.

Verin, like Egwene, thinks the Tower division and factions foolishness. She was surprised at what Egwene has achieved in breaking Elaida’s regime - and perhaps the Black Ajah’s influence on the Tower division, considering how annoyed they are.

The chapter delivers a lot of information on the Shadow in a revelatory fashion. Verin is convinced the Dark One’s motives and strategy are unpredictable and that Rand’s assumptions are wrong.

The Forsaken’s selfishness makes them predictable to Dark One:

”A tool you can depend upon to act as expected is far more valuable than one you cannot understand.”

The Gathering Storm, A Visit From Verin Sedai

Plus the contention means that only the strongest and craftiest survive. (Note that the Seanchan select their monarch in a similar way).

Verin was believed to be a Darkfriend by the Black Ajah and had to either join up or die. This was probably the serious error she made 70 years ago. She did not want to die, so she chose to join, and to redeem herself by gathering intelligence with the aim of betraying the Shadow:

"I joined them to keep my skin intact," Verin said, smiling. "I'm rather fond of it, though Tomas did go on about these white hairs. Anyway, after joining them, the chance to study them was my making the best of the situation."

The Gathering Storm, A Visit From Verin Sedai

She quotes the wording of one of the Black Ajah Oaths. Speculation on the other Oaths is here.

Verin wonders if there is a purpose to the loophole that allows betrayal of the Shadow in what you believe to be the final hour of your life. Egwene thinks it must be just accident. The wording is dramatically threatening and typical of the trope of the flawed Dark Lord.

Verin took asping rot to execute herself. ‘Asping’ alludes to asp, the venomous snake said to be used in Ancient Egypt for executing criminals who were thought to deserve a kinder death than that from regular executions. Cleopatra was said by Plutarch to have tested various poisons (on others, naturally – rank has its privileges!) and thought that the asp’s venom, which made the victim sleepy and weak, yet without pain, was the least terrible way to die. This is the death she chose herself when she suicided. From Egwene’s description, asping rot has a very similar physical effect although it is a plant, not snake venom.

‘Rot’ refers to fungi, many of which are very poisonous, although they kill in unpleasant ways.

The Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum) or Ordeal bean also has interesting parallels with asping rot. It is very poisonous and the ground beans infused in water were used in West Africa as an ordeal to prove innocence or guilt:

If the prisoner vomits within half an hour he is accounted innocent, but if he succumbs he is found guilty.

- Maude Grieve, A Modern Herbal

It generally kills within an hour.

The explanation for the survival of the innocent is that they trustingly drank the poison straight down and their body reacted to the rapid dose with intense vomiting and diarrhoea, thus purging the poison from their system before it was absorbed. The guilt sipped their poison and this slower dose was absorbed through the gastro-intestinal tract without being violently ejected as a large dose would be and they died of cardiac arrest (Malcolm Stuart, Colour Dictionary of Herbs and Herbalism).

Verin’s actions in sipping her poison not only allowed her to hand on her report and explanations, but reflect that she accepted her guilt in swearing to the Dark One and for her actions (however reluctant) as part of the Black Ajah and was prepared to pay the price.

And Verin did evil acts as a Darkfriend:

“Light knows I've done enough to require a very special kind of redemption. But it was worth the cost. Worth it indeed. Or perhaps that is simply what I must tell myself."

The Gathering Storm, A Visit From Verin Sedai

Certainly Sheriam was convinced that Verin was a committed Darkfriend.

Verin gives Egwene one book plus the cipher key, yet in The Path of Daggers she thinks of the many books of enciphered notes she has:

One day she would have to write out the cipher she used in her notebooks - a lifetime's worth of them filled cupboards and chests in her rooms above the White Tower library - one day, but she hoped not soon.

The Path of Daggers, Deceptive Appearances

There is no mention of these books in either The Gathering Storm or Towers of Midnight.

Browns gather knowledge so it can be used in the future. Verin excelled herself there, with details on Darkfriend leaders, and the Black Ajah, including their prophecies, factions and their goals and motivations. Only the list of Black sisters has been tapped into so far.

My analysis of Black Ajah numbers is given in the Black Ajah article here. Note that unaligned sisters including, we have to assume, Cadsuane’s faction, must have about one third of the Black sisters.

For an analysis of the Black Sitters and their effects on voting in the Hall see
here. For a listing of the known Black sisters and their deeds see here. Perhaps not sending any Black Ajah among the ferrets returning to the Tower was an oversight on Sheriam’s part.

Through Egwene, we are reminded that evil can appear likeable and that unlikeable doesn’t mean someone is evil.

When I read this chapter, I kicked myself because I had written in the Black Ajah article years before that if there was any agent of the Light infiltrating the Shadow it would be Verin. I never wrote it up as formal theory though. Ah well.

Like Cadsuane, Verin had quite a collection of objects of the Power: her book invisibility ter’angreal, the dream ter’angreal she gave to Egwene (this works under even extreme secrecy since it doesn’t require channelling), and an angreal.

Saerin judges that the Reds warned Elaida not to protest her censure, or else she would lose what support they are prepared to give her. Elaida was not deposed because Egwene said she did not want the Red Ajah to fall. Egwene suspects Elaida did a deal with Tsutama to submit to the will of the Hall in exchange for Silviana being punished but to a lesser degree. Therefore Elaida still had influence in her Ajah. Via the Black, perhaps, since the Black probably didn’t want Elaida deposed.

Egwene is determined every suspected Darkfriend will be given the chance to prove herself. She realises the gathering of rebel sisters in Salidar and then their procrastination was probably a part of the Shadow’s plan. She believes the same of her own raising, but actually the latter was used by the Shadow.

Egwene’s orders to Siuan to watch Sheriam and Moria were given quite baldly, with no explanation about how she knows who is in the Black Ajah. Therefore Siuan thought rescuing Egwene more important.

The Gathering Storm Read-Through #26: Chapter 23 - A Warp In The Air

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Cadsuane sees straight away why Corele and Nesune were left alive while Daigian was killed. Warders would raise the alarm. However they should have noticed that something had happened to their Aes Sedai. Corele and Nesune were put in a trance, but neither saidin nor saidar weaves could be detected. They may have been reversed weaves, or the True Power. Weaves of the True Power would not be sensed by others at all, so it is more likely that Shaidar Haran did this bit.

Cadsuane was not in her quarters but out in the Wise Ones’ camp. What a coincidence that the very night she was visiting the Wise Ones – at their invitation? - after showing one of them where she kept the a’dam, she was burgled. Cadsuane has a paralis net plus knowledge and strength. It was essential that she not be there.

It is interesting that when Rand suddenly shows Cadsuane the remnants of the a’dam only partially on view, we get told of Sorilea’s reaction:

"Do you recognize that, Cadsuane?" al'Thor said, nodding toward something metallic sitting on the bed, mostly hidden by the sheets.
Hesitantly she walked forward. Sorilea looked over, expression unreadable. Apparently, she didn't wish to be drawn into the conversation when al'Thor was in such a mood.

The Gathering Storm, A Warp in the Air

Maidens reported immediately to the Wise Ones while Cadsuane was entering the room. A Maiden held Cadsuane’s box so the Wise Ones knew of it before Rand showed Cadsuane. I think Sorilea blanked her expressions because she knew more than anyone else how the a’dam was betrayed to the Shadow and was wary about either Rand or Cadsuane reading her body language.

The male access key was left behind in Cadsuane’s room by whoever stole the a’dam and Rand has it now. Elza would know its function since she was at the Cleansing. A Wise One would not necessarily since no Aiel was there. Shaidar Haran might not want any person, even Moridin, to have that much Power. Maybe it wants Rand to despair and break the World and that is why it was left. Alternatively it may never have been told the access key was there. Cadsuane blames Forsaken for being able to disarm her box. But Sorilea was there when Cadsuane disarmed it and could have learned how to do it. Cadsuane earlier noted what a quick study Sorilea is for weaves even if she is weak in the Power. Sorilea could demonstrate the weave to Elza (since she can do that, even if her weave is too weak to be effective) and then Elza fetch the a’dam at Shaidar Haran’s command. Elza would follow an order exactly and not take anything she wasn’t ordered to.

Rand demonstrates balefire for Narishma and explains why they have to use it. He openly speaks of having Lews Therin’s memories to prove he knows the consequences of the weave.

Cadsuane thinks Rand insolent when he doesn’t answer her. She is annoyed with his overconfidence and stubbornness. Rand ignores her. Both are too angry and alarmed to talk. Cadsuane wonders how Rand survived. She refuses to apologise; she is over confident and stubborn just like Rand. He exiles her and threatens to kill her. He didn’t even react to Min when she objects.

Only Narishma is considerate enough to ask Min how she is. For some reason Min hasn’t been Healed.

Rand is really dark because he just used the True Power and balefire:

There was a danger to it, a shadowy cast to his eyes that struck her with more fear than she'd thought her aging heart could summon. As she watched, the air around him seemed to warp, and she could almost think that the room had grown darker... from the corner of her eye, she saw a deep darkness emanating from al'Thor, warping the air even further.

The Gathering Storm, A Warp in the Air

The shadow or darkness which warps the air is an after-effect of drawing the True Power. Foolishly Cadsuane says Rand doesn’t kill women. Considering what Semirhage forced him to do, she could hardly have said anything more stupid. He threatens that he can now kill solely by warping the Pattern to do his will:

"Cadsuane," he said softly, "do you believe that I could kill you? Right here, right now, without using a sword or the Power? Do you believe that if I simply willed it, the Pattern would bend around me and stop your heart? By... coincidence?"
Being ta'veren didn't work that way. Light! It didn't, did it? He couldn't bend the very Pattern to his will, could he?
And yet, meeting his eyes, she did believe. Against all logic, she looked in those eyes and knew that if she didn't leave, she would die.

The Gathering Storm, A Warp in the Air

What a bully Rand has turned into. This seems to be the corrupting influence of the Dark One (and how immediate it is!) – not that Cadsuane knows why he is like this. No wonder Cadsuane is terrified, in part for her life, but also for what he has become. She is powerless and doesn’t know what to do about the changes to Rand.

The Gathering Storm Read-Through #25: Chapter 22 - The Last That Could Be Done

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

And now for one of the pivotal chapters of The Gathering Storm, due to the effect its events have on Rand's character.

Semirhage POV

The Lady of Pain likes to receive physical pain as well as give it, although she much prefers the latter. She’s not that tough on blows to the ego though: the humiliation of her treatment made her cry and according to the Dark One has broken her. It didn’t take long. Semirhage’s ego is over-inflated and fragile. Mengele, one of her parallels, was just as psychologically brittle when captured (see Semirhage essay).

Semirhage mistakes rationalising for rational reasoning, but then she isn’t honest with herself, as her hypocritical claim that she experiments on people, while others merely abuse them, shows.

The Dark One confirmed that Semirhage was ordered to capture Rand and that she is judged to have failed greatly. She doesn’t dare lie or make excuses to Shaidar Haran, yet Moghedien did so, in the Pit of Doom, no less, and Graendal lies and makes excuses to Shaidar Haran at the end of Towers of Midnight.

Semirhage says the Dark One’s punishment for failure would make anything Aes Sedai could think up seem childish. Childish was exactly what worked on Semirhage and she found that it wasn’t that childish at all…

When Semirhage sees the three Aes Sedai sprawled on the floor she assumes they are all dead. So much for her Healing talent. Elza tells Semirhage that she must remove Verin’s compulsion (and it is referred to as such, despite Verin’s modest disclaimer). Semirhage is delighted because of the opportunity to observe the nasty effects. Afterwards Elza is dazed looking from having the Compulsion removed, but is coherent enough. Had Semirhage listened to Elza they would both probably be alive.

Shaidar Haran removed Semirhage’s shield but didn’t remove Elza’s Compulsion. Someone told where the a’dam was and how to get it. As reported on Terez’ Interview Database, Shaidar Haran has limitations:

Brandon hinted at some severe limitations on Shaidar Haran to affect the physical world. He says that a lot of actions that people assume to be those of Shaidar Haran in the book in one particular scene were physically carried out by Elza. He further indicated that Shadar Haran would have been incapable of physically placing the collar himself.

Q: You mention that Shaidar Haran has quite a few limitations on his power. Can you give us a few concrete examples of these limitations?
A: Shaidar Haran needs a minion to do most of his work for him. Elza was essential to Shaidar Haran in getting things done.

Q. How did Elza defeat the wards on Cadsuane's plain wooden box?
A. Elza had been given knowledge of several rarely known weaves, and in other ways made into a tool of Shaidar Haran. Not all of it was pleasant for her.

The simplest way would have been for a saidar channeller who witnessed the weaves to demonstrate them to Elza. Sorilea is the only one we know of that fits. But Elza was also given other knowledge as Sanderson says above.

Shaidar Haran appeared in black with a red light. Moridin claims red and black as his own, but it is the Great Lord’s livery.


Rand POV

The Blight is advancing very quickly. However the lack of Shadowspawn raids is very unusual. And ominous.

Bashere is aware that Tenobia could well be angry with him for following Rand and not asking her for orders. Rand admits that bringing 50 thousand soldiers into a nation was an act of war, but the rulers have left their nations under-defended. He wants Domani forces in Saldaea rather than Dragonsworn Saldaeans because they will be less of a problem, not of disloyalty to Rand, but of upsetting other Saldaeans. Ituralde had problems anyway in Towers of Midnight with being regarded as an invader.

Rand promises Ituralde 100 Asha’man by the end of the week. Lews Therin is convinced that no Asha’man can be trusted and that they will turn on him and Rand. I guess we’ll see if he’s right in A Memory of Light.

Rand wonders why Moridin helped him in Shadar Logoth against Sammael. Moridin only wants Rand dead beforetime if he thinks the Shadow is losing, otherwise he’d rather Rand save himself by removing a disobedient and unreliable Forsaken (who is also a rival of Moridin).

Rand is frightened that his dreams are no longer safe due to his link with Moridin. The Shadow let his dreams alone long enough for Rand to get over this, and then Cyndane breaks through…

Lews Therin says Min is right about needing to break the Seals. He explains the little he knows about Sealing the Bore. Something has to touch the Dark One, to bridge the gap, but then the Dark One is able to taint it. Therefore if something has to bridge the gap it must be something the Dark One can’t taint, like, say, the Shadar Logoth evil.

Rand is peeved that Lews Therin doesn’t have an answer on how to seal the Bore, but if he did, Lews Therin would have done things differently then and now. Rand seems to only tolerate Lews Therin for his knowledge. While Rand thinks that maybe if women had been included there might have been a successful outcome to the sealing of the Bore, we know from what RJ said that this wouldn’t have worked:

The result of this was that Lews Therin carried out his plan with only male Aes Sedai, so there were only male Aes Sedai channeling there, which was a lucky thing, because if there’d been women as well, then both saidin and saidar would have been tainted.

RJ at a booksigning

It would have been worse if anything. Rand is right; there surely is more to it than including women.

It is interesting that Rand thinks he could break the rules by killing the Dark One just as it is necessary to break the rules to win against the trickster Finns.

Rand wants Min’s approval and holds back a little from being too hard:

Except that Min didn't want him to be hard. He didn't want to frighten her, of all people. There were no games with Min; she might call him a fool, but she did not lie, and that made him want to be the man she wished him to be. But did he dare? Could a man who could laugh also be the man who could face what needed to be done at Shayol Ghul?

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

He thinks:

It would take a hard man to face his own death, to fight the Dark One while his blood spilled on the rocks. Who could laugh in the face of that?

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

Rand doesn’t need to laugh; he just doesn’t need to be hard or brutal either. As usual, balance is the key.

Rand is crushed by all his duties and impending sacrifice. Going one step further, Lews Therin is expressing a wish for nothingness like Moridin:

We die. You promised we could die!
Only if we defeat the Dark One, Rand said. You know that if he wins, there will be nothing for us. Not even death.
Yes . . . nothing, Lews Therin said. That would be nice. No pain, no regret. Nothing.
Rand felt a chill. If Lews Therin began to think that way . . . No, Rand said, it wouldn't be nothing. He would have our soul. The pain would be worse, far worse.

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

Rand says that to frighten Lews Therin off from wanting nothingness. Is Lews Therin infected by the link to Moridin? Or Moridin by Lews Therin’s despair? Whichever way, Lews Therin, being the madder part of Rand’s personality, is showing the effects sooner than Rand is.

Rand says:

He had worked hard to make them think he was a man without affection. At times, he feared that his ruse had become reality.

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

He’s right; this is a dangerous ploy because an act can become real if it is done often or really convincingly.

Rand thinks a moment of running to his father would be a fatal weakness to him and to Tam. He’s wrong about this as he shows in Towers of Midnight in Tear. It’s an indication of how much he changed over the two books.

The prophecy of Rand living by dying is interpreted by Rand to refer to his legacy of memories and histories. At his most negative he believes this will be war, famine and chaos; when he is more positive, he hopes his schools will be effective. Either way he thinks he can’t worry about afterwards:

To do so would be to take his eye off the goal. And what is the goal? that voice seemed to say. Is it to survive, or is it to thrive? Will you set the groundwork for another Breaking or for another Age of Legends?

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

Indeed, his spiritual state is important as Cadsuane has said from early on. The Gathering Storm shows what happens when Rand reaches a spiritual nadir: despair, violence and contemplation of genocide.

Min encourages Rand to relax but he brushes her off saying it is not a time for laughter:

"You would have me be happy while children starve and men slaughter one another? I should laugh to hear that Trollocs are still getting through the Ways? I should be happy that the majority of the Forsaken are still out there somewhere, plotting how best to kill me?"

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

He makes a nonsense of her suggestions by taking it to its extreme. He did something similar when he suggested that laughing was the alternative to being hard.

Rand becomes suspicious when Min mentions Cadsuane and accuses her of manipulating him on Cadsuane’ behalf. Then he feels he went too far by distrusting Min and backs down. At that moment Semirhage strikes with the male a’dam.

Semirhage tested the male a’dam previously and has apparently spent a lot of time working with the female a’dam. How and when?

The Domination Band (see A'dam article for more on both types) prevents movement and channelling unless the controller allows it. It is more enslaving than the female a’dam. While being abused by Semirhage through the a’dam Rand has a flashback of his captivity by Elaida’s embassy. It was in the box that Rand split Lews Therin off from himself more:

Rand could remember communicating with the madman; Lews Therin had started to respond to him only shortly before that day. Rand hadn't been willing to see Lews Therin as part of himself.

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

He doesn’t acknowledge his Lews Therin fragment until he is at least as bad as Lews Therin and fully realises it.

When he tells Semirhage that she can’t do anything more to him she reacts as though Rand has challenged her. She makes him attack Min instead. Rand refuses to kill Semirhage as Lews Therin urges; instead she forces him to torture Min. It was a futile suggestion anyway because Rand can’t do what Semirhage won’t allow while the a’dam is being used on him.

Semirhage should be taking Rand to Shayol Ghul but decides to play with him first. She tries to make him kill Min physically. This, plus a flashback of Lews Therin killing Ilyena, drives Rand to draw on the True Power through his link to Moridin. First he went emotionally cold, then dead. When Asmodean was teaching Rand how to seize saidin in the void, Rand always went emotionless. Asmodean said Rand could or would go beyond that in time:

Aviendha began dividing them while he seized saidin, filling himself with life and death, molten fire and liquid ice.
“Split them equally,” he told her. He knew his voice was cold and emotionless. Asmodean had said he could go beyond that, but he had not managed to so far.

The Fires of Heaven, A Short Spear

but Rand took a very long time to do so and may only have fully achieved this in Towers of Midnight. Rand has always had this tendency to suppress his feelings - the heart of stone.

The unseen face would be that of Moridin. We know from earlier chapters how closely they are tied now.

Lews Therin thinks the True Power/Dark One - they are the same in his mind - is death and betrayal. Semirhage thinks the Dark One betrayed her by allowing Rand to draw the True Power rather than let her be disobedient and put her little games first above the Dark One’s commands.

The True Power is totally addictive as we soon learn. The modest amount Rand uses to kill Semirhage and Elza rivals in seductiveness what Rand can draw through the Choedan Kal. The Dark One = overkill. Not just kill.

Rand knows how to use the True Power, so the knowing must be part of its access:

Rand raised a hand and, filled with the power he did not understand, wove a single weave.

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

The bracelets were not destroyed by True Power balefire, but the weave did not hit them directly.

Lews Therin thinks he and Rand are damned by using the True Power, especially True Power balefire.

Rand is still emotionally numb. Now he knows what it is like to kill a loved one while fully aware thanks to Semirhage. He thinks the worst has been done to him and he can make himself strong enough to withstand it now:

Once, weeks ago, he had decided that he must become stronger— where he had been iron, he had decided to become steel. It appeared that steel was too weak. He would be harder, now. He understood how. Where he had once been steel, he became something else. From now on, he was cuendillar.

The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could be Done

But he isn’t making himself stronger. Cadsuane was right when she told Sorilea that Rand confuses strength and hardness. In fact he does so in the quote above. At this point Rand is not strength, only hardness. Perrin is strength (see Perrin essay). Rand is making himself harder and more brittle just as Fain found Elaida was compared with Siuan:

He had been surprised to find Elaida on the Amyrlin Seat. Better than what he had expected, though. In many ways she was not so tough, he had heard, as the woman who had worn the stole before her. Harder, yes, and more cruel, but more brittle, too. More difficult to bend, likely, but easier to break.

The Fires of Heaven, Prologue

Rand is now staying emotionless in a different void. A void is nothingness just as Lews Therin and Moridin advocate. Rand states that they can’t bend or break him and thinks he’s safe from that. But he’s not safe because he can break himself as we shall see.

Knife of Dreams Read-through #15: Lording It Over Chaos

By Linda

One of the most interesting things about Knife of Dreams is that it begins and ends with the cryptic phrase “Let the Lord of Chaos rule”. Semirhage recites this after she informs Suroth of how she destroyed the Seanchan Imperial family and the Empire:

This time, Semirhage’s laughter was so shocking that it shut off Suroth’s tears. That head of fire was thrown back, emitting great peals of mirth. At last she regained control, wiping away tears of flame with fiery fingers. “I see I didn’t make myself clear. Radhanan is dead, and her daughters, and her sons, and half the Imperial Court, as well. There is no Imperial family except for Tuon. There is no Empire. Seandar is in the hands of rioters and looters, and so are a dozen other cities. At least fifty nobles are contending for the throne, with armies in the field. There is war from the Aldael Mountains to Salaking. Which is why you will be perfectly safe in disposing of Tuon and proclaiming yourself Empress. I’ve even arranged for a ship, which should arrive soon, to bring word of the disaster.” She laughed again, and said something strange. “Let the lord of chaos rule.”

- Knife of Dreams Prologue

and Taim says it after he agrees that the Red Ajah can Bond those Asha’man (all three ranks) who are willing:

Pevara blinked in spite of herself. "'Very well'?" She must have misunderstood him. He could not have been convinced so easily.
Taim's eyes seemed to bore into her head. He spread his hands, and it was a mocking gesture. "What would you have me say? Fair is fair? Equal shares? Accept 'very well' and ask who will let you bond them. Besides, you must remember the old saying. Let the lord of chaos rule." The chamber erupted with men's laughter.
Pevara had never heard any saying like that. The laughter made the hair on the back of her neck try to stand.

- Knife of Dreams Epilogue

Rand is associated with chaos since

Order burns to clear his path

- Lord of Chaos, Epigram

as the Prophecies say, but so is the Dark One, as Verin explains:

The Dark One is the embodiment of paradox and chaos, the destroyer of reason and logic, the breaker of balance, the unmaker of order.”

- The Dragon Reborn, A World of Dreams

It’s a risky tactic as Mesaana observed back when it was first proposed in Lord of Chaos: letting Rand rule while ‘aiding’ that rule as chaotically as possible. (With 'friends' like that, who needs enemies? No wonder Rand is paranoid.)

Examples are:

• Sammael ‘aided’ Rand by dispersing his enemies the Shaido, thus widening their pillaging front;


• another Forsaken (Lanfear?) ‘aided’ Rand by deluding Masema into encouraging his Dragonsworn to pillage; and, as shown above,


• Semirhage ‘aided’ Rand by destroying invader Tuon’s support behind her.

As Lord of Chaos, Rand is effectively being linked with the Dark One and we saw the result of this in Knife of Dreams and The Gathering Storm: Rand became dark, the Land became Blighted and the Dark One’s touch on the Land increased.

The Shadow can hide their real intentions within the chaos as Sammael said:

"The rest [of the Shaido] are scattered from Illian to Ghealdan. As to how or why? Maybe al'Thor did it, for his own reasons, but I certainly wouldn't have wasted most of them if it was my work, now would I?" He laughed again; caught up in his own brilliance.

- A Crown of Swords, Spears

On the other hand, so can the Pattern protect, hide, or aid Rand in the same way without the Shadow noticing until too late. As Graendal observed, the Pattern is now so unstable it’s now quite hard to find even such very strong ta’veren:

Finding ta'veren was never as simple as you made out, and now it's harder than ever. The whole Pattern is in flux, full of shifts and spikes."

- Knife of Dreams, At the Gardens

At the end of Knife of Dreams Tuon returns to her base, having avoided attempts to kill her, and establishes order, one of her strongest motifs. Rand may be Lord of Chaos, but Tuon is Lady of Order (see Tuon essay).

And finally six brave Reds arrive at the Dark Tower and find a child soldier, and a harsh, cruel regime. Taim now has 100 full Asha’man, all trained personally by him and owing him their positions and loyalty (as Logain warned Rand). The Reds have ostensibly been given the permission they sought but will they survive this dangerous expedition? How many will leave the Black Tower alive? Will some of the fleeing Black sisters be sent there to enable Taim’s group to make rings?

To add to their peril/woes there are possibly Black sisters present with them already – as part of their number. Javindhra, who is supposedly Elaida’s lapdog, smirks when she says that news of Dumai’s Wells is spreading to discredit Elaida no matter how hard the Red Ajah leadership works (Knife of Dreams Prologue). It sounds as if she is aware of Alviarin’s order to do this. She wears ‘almost black’ clothing, often a sign of a Black sister. Desala, who has a notoriously nasty temper among an Ajah full of harsh characters, is another contender.

And has the Shadow’s plan worked? The last we heard, the Dark One thought so.

This post ends my Knife of Dreams read-through, which has been the longest to date that I have attempted solo. Next week I shall post some new library articles. There are only a few weeks until the Towers of Midnight prologue is released (about early September, according to Sanderson).

Crossroads of Twilight Read-through #5: Visions of Others

By Linda

In A Crown of Swords, Rand was linked with Moridin when their balefires of opposing Powers touched. Ever since then Rand has felt increasingly nauseous and dizzy when he touches saidin or lets go of it, and can see Moridin’s face. It is increasingly incapacitating.

The Dark One’s taint on the male half of the Source was nauseating to anyone who sensed it:

”It will be wonderful, channelling without the taint, my Lord Dragon, he [Eben] said excitedly…:That always makes me want to empty my belly, if I think on it.”

- Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal

But not as badly as Rand ends up feeling.

Dizziness too can come from the Dark One – from attracting his attention:

”Shai'tan is dead," he [Rand] said harshly, and abruptly the room seemed to lurch. He grabbed his head as waves of dizziness sloshed through him.
"You fool! You pure, blind, idiotic fool! Naming the Dark One, bringing his attention down on you! Don't you have enough trouble?"
"He's dead," Rand muttered, rubbing his head. He swallowed. The dizziness was already fading.

- The Great Hunt, Dark Prophecy

at least when the Dragon, the Creator’s champion born to fight the Dark One, does so. The touch of the Dark One being antithetical to Creation revolts the body and deranges the mind.

Some of the Dark One’s taint was inserted into Rand’s body in Falme, yet he had no symptoms of dizziness or nausea associated with channelling until Lord of Chaos when he went to attend to the Shadar Logoth Waygate:

From the first flow he channeled, the taint seemed to pulse inside him, a slowly building vibration. It must have been the evil in Shadar Logoth itself, a resonance of evil to evil. Even in the Void he felt dizzy from those reverberations, as though the world swung beneath his feet in time to them; they made him want to vomit up everything he had ever eaten.

- Lord of Chaos, To Shadar Logoth

These symptoms, while as extreme as those he later felt, did not continue after leaving Shadar Logoth though. They were due to the Dark One’s taint in his side and the evil in Shadar Logoth reacting to each other. Rand was not wounded by Fain until late in A Crown of Swords and Flinn sealed away the two wounds fairly promptly. I think Flinn’s treatment was effective because Rand had no problem channelling during the attack on Sammael and because the wounds, contrary to Flinn’s expectations, did not change after the cleansing of saidin.

When Rand seized saidin prior to linking with Nynaeve he expected to feel nauseous, but did not, instead he saw Moridin’s face:

He placed his hands on the ground beside him against the sickness that would strike when he took hold of the Source again, but a different dizziness suddenly spun his head. For a heartbeat, a vague face filled his eyes, blotting out Nynaeve, a man’s face, almost recognisable.

- Winter’s Heart, With the Choedan Kal

Moridin’s link to Rand was formed at Shadar Logoth at the end of A Crown of Swords. By The Path of Daggers, Floating Like Snow, nine days later, Rand is feeling increasingly dizzy and nauseous when he seizes saidin; a “new sickness” and a “recent problem”:

Reluctantly he let go of the Power, forced himself not to hang on like a man clutching salvation with his fingernails as life and filth drained from him together. For an instant, he saw double; the world seemed to tilt dizzily. That was a recent problem, and he worried it might be part of the sickness that killed men who
channeled, but the dizziness never lasted more than moments.

- The Path of Daggers, Floating Like Snow

He has to be careful when channelling not to be distracted by the nausea or dizziness. When Rand dreams, he sometimes looks like Moridin in the dream, rather than himself, or Lews Therin (The Path of Daggers, Answering the Summons.) In The Path of Daggers, A Time For Iron, he even feels ill when he releases saidin and in Winter’s Heart Prologue he starts to see Moridin’s face and the symptoms appear when he is not touching saidin at all. The latter probably occurs Moridin is channelling.

Since the second side wound attacking the first and the link with Moridin occurred fairly close together it is not certain which is responsible for the extreme nausea and dizziness but the fact that the illness is accompanied by visions of Moridin’s face indicates the link is the more likely culprit, as is the fact that Rand feels ill when Moridin channels and Rand is not touching the Source. Even more indicative is that Moridin is affected in a similar way to Rand:

Yet with saidin came the inevitable violent nausea, the almost overwhelming desire to double over and empty himself of every meal he had ever eaten… The face of the man from Shadar Logoth floated in his head for a moment. He looked furious. And near to sicking up. Without any doubt he was aware of Rand in that moment, and Rand of him. Move a hair in any direction, and they would touch. No more than a hair.

- Knife of Dreams, Within The Stone

Not only can each see the other, but they are aware of each other when this occurs:

Abruptly another image was floating his head, a man's face, and his breath caught. For the first time, it came without any dizziness.
For the first time, he could see it clearly in the moments before it vanished. A blue-eyed man with a square chin, perhaps a few years older than himself. Or rather, he saw it clearly for the first time in a long while. It was the face of the stranger who had saved his life in Shadar Logoth when he fought Sammael. Worse. . . .
He was aware of me, Lews Therin said. He sounded sane for a change. Sometimes he did, but the madness always returned eventually. How can a face appearing in my mind be aware of me?
If you don't know, how do you expect me to? Rand thought. But I was aware of him, as well. It had been a strange sensation, as if he were . . . touching . . . the other man somehow. Only not physically. A residue hung on. It seemed he only had to move a hair's breadth, in any direction to touch him again. I think he saw my face, too.

- Knife of Dreams, Vows

Neither was channelling at the time, either – hence no illness. Rand had just finished seeing both Mat and Perrin through his links to them when this sighting of Moridin occurred. It is as though using the ta’veren links to the max triggers his link to Moridin without the usual channelling.

The ultimate consequences of the link where Rand, desperate to escape Semirhage’s sadism, draws on the True Power through his link to Moridin:

At that moment he grew aware of a strange force. It was like a reservoir of water, boiling and churning just beyond his view. He reached toward it with his mind.
A clouded face flashed before Rand's own, one whose features he couldn't quite make out. It was gone in a moment.
And Rand found himself filled with an alien power. Not saidin, not saidar, but something else.
Something he'd never felt before.
Oh, Light, Lews Therin suddenly screamed. That's impossible! We can't use it! Cast it away! That is death we hold, death and betrayal.
It is HIM.
Rand closed his eyes as he knelt above Min, then he channeled the strange, unknown force. Energy and life surged through him, a torrent of power like saidin, only ten times as sweet and a hundred times as violent. It made him alive, made him realize that he'd never been alive before. It gave him such strength as he'd never imagined. It rivaled, even, the power he'd held when drawing from the Choedan Kal.
He screamed, in both rapture and rage, and wove enormous spears of Fire and Air.

- The Gathering Storm, The Last That Could Be Done

Rand feels ill every time he seizes saidin, but he channelled the True Power “okay” in the sense of not being ill. Actually he felt great, and seriously tempted to use the True Power again. Such is its corruption that only by balancing the lure of the True Power with that of an enormous amount of the Creator’s One Power available through the Choedan Kal could Rand resist the temptation. The Land sure was sickened by its Champion using the True Power though.

We know Moridin is sickened when Rand seizes saidin. It would be interesting to know if Moridin feels the reverse of Rand when channelling: ie okay when channelling saidin, ill channelling the True Power. Or has the Dark One neatly trapped them both and can neither channel saidin without sickness, but only the True Power?

Whatever else, the link certainly incapacitated Rand as a channeller.

While Rand’s link with Moridin is wrong, leading to corruption and death, his link to the other two ta’veren is right, bringing reassurance and…gasp…information with the potential for cooperation. The link allows the three to sense each other and see what each other is doing.

Rand first began to sense a link to Mat and Perrin when he was locked in tne beox by Elaida's Embassy with only pain and LEws Therin for company:

Something flashed in his mind. Not images, just flickers of color and motion. For some reason they made him think of Mat, and Perrin. The flashes had begun inside the chest, them and a thousand more hallucinations. In the chest, where Galina and Brian and Katerine and the rest stuffed him every day after he was beaten.

- A Crown of Swords, Pitfalls and Tripwires.

Perrin senses his link to Mat and Rand before Mat does:

As always of late when he thought of Rand, colors swirled in his head, and as always, he ignored them.

- Winter’s Heart, Prologue

and is the first of the three to see clear visions of the others rather than swirls of colours.

Mat’s first ‘vision’ of colour swirls occurs by Winter’s Heart, In Need of a Bellfounder:

He grimaced and rubbed at his forehead as a faint rush of colors seemed to swirl inside his head. That happened lately whenever he thought about either man.

After his link with Moridin is formed, Rand has trouble with his visions of Mat and Perrin – they make him stumble:

And Mat was not here? Had never been here, apparently. Colors whirled in his head, almost an image he could make out. In a heartbeat it vanished, but he staggered.

- Winter’s Heart, Ideas of Importance

perhaps because the extra link interferes. But he soon is no longer disconcerted by them, and uses them even – unlike his link to Moridin which continues to be a source of discomfort, sickness and corruption until at least The Gathering Storm.

For all three ta’veren it takes time – or practise – for the colours to resolve into precise visions of what the others are doing.

The Really Big Event of Rand cleansing saidin causes colour swirls to form unbidden in Mat’s and Perrin’s minds, in Perrin’s case resolving into his first clear vision of Rand, but both Mat and Perrin knew that Rand was behind the vast usage of the Power. Mat and Perrin will probably sense other Really Big Events that happen to Rand unbidden in this way – unless they have gone questing in another world.

The psychic connection of the three ta’veren by the Pattern is ‘right’ or healthy and will be crucial in the Last Battle not just for planning battles, but because the three will support the world spiritually as well as physically against the Dark One’s onslaught: “the three shall be one”, as prophesied in the Karaethon Cycle; (see Numbers Symbolism essay regarding the significance of Three versus One). The three-way link allows this to happen.

This situation can be likened to that predicted in Zoroastrian end times (and Jordan had quite a number of books in his library on Asian religions according to Maria and Alan at JordanCon). Saoshyans, the final saviour of the world, will be conceived by a virgin, and he will overcome the power of evil at the end of time and resurrect the bodies of the dead. Saoshyans and six helpers will then lead the work in the world, communicating with each other miraculously (Encyclopaedia Britannica). (For Rand’s parallels to Saoshyans see Rand essay.) Likewise the three ta’veren are each able to see what the others are doing by a vision through swirling colours and together will hopefully defeat the Shadow with the important difference of preventing the end of time.

Winter's Heart Read-through Post #6: Mysterious Slayer

By Linda

In Winter’s Heart, Slayer attempted to kill Rand on the orders of a Forsaken, but killed two other people instead.

All Forsaken know of Slayer and he knows all of them. Darkfriends other than Forsaken beg his favours:

Few save the Chosen knew how to reach him, and none of the men among those few could channel, or would have dared trying to command him. His services were always begged, except by the Great Lord himself, and more recently by the Chosen

- Winter’s Heart, To Lose the Sun

No Darkfriend Asha’man knows how to reach him. Some of the Black Ajah probably do, since he thinks that “few save the Chosen would dare try to command him”, and surely Aes Sedai would be among those few. High up male and female Darkfriends also probably know how to reach him.

After the failed attempt he reported to the disguised Forsaken and was convinced his patron is a man. However definite evidence for his opinion is lacking and the Forsaken are adept at disguising their appearance and voices, so he could be wrong…

When Isam was an infant, his mother Breyam fled Malkier with him, but was killed by Trollocs. Isam was spared because the Shadow saw he could be useful. Yet he was not raised directly by the Shadow:

Question: Why was the infant Isam spared death at the hand of the Trollocs?

Jordan: Possible political use later. You’ve got somebody who is related to the royal family of Malkier and you can raise him exactly the way you want, you can instil whatever belief system you want. He’s a blank slate and he might be a very powerful tool.

Question: Was Isam raised by the Shadow directly, by his mother, or by someone else?

Jordan: By someone else. Read and find out.

- Robert Jordan at Dragoncon

Isam’s alter ego Luc left Andor in about 973 NE, a year before Tigraine did. Gitara Moroso probably convinced him:

that his fame lay in the Blight, or his fate. Others said it was that he would find the Dragon Reborn there, or that the Last Battle depended on him going.

- Lord of Chaos, Tellings of the Wheel

It doesn’t sound like Luc was a Darkfriend at that time. (Andor seems to have been beset by Aes Sedai with the Foretelling who try to manipulate the royal family.)

According to the Dark Prophecy, Isam met Luc in the Mountains of Dhoom and one killed the other:

Luc came to the Mountains of Dhoom.
Isam waited in the high passes.
The hunt is now begun. The Shadow's hounds now course, and kill.
One did live, and one did die, but both are.

The two souls now coexist in the one body and they hunt and kill for the Shadow and for themselves.

By both Isam’s and Luc’s thoughts, Luc is now as evil as Isam and as focussed on being the Shadow’s henchman. How did the change occur? Luc can only have been forcibly turned to the Shadow by 13 linked Dreadlords and 13 Myrddraal if he could channel. However, he could have been corrupted by psychic leakage along his link to Isam, as Rand was with Moridin after a few months. With a far longer time to take effect, and no escape, this corruption could be entirely successful. In the Two Rivers when Luc remarks to Perrin:

I know something of taking an enemy into your bosom. His blade goes in quicker when he is close.

- The Shadow Rising, The Tinker’s Sword

he may have been referring to Isam’s soul corrupting his rather than their duel.

Slayer was granted many gifts, and not necessarily only by the Dark One. One gift was the transmigration, and therefore continued life, of one soul - we don’t know which - into the body of the survivor of their duel.

Another of these gifts is the ability to shape-shift. On exiting or entering Tel’aran’rhiod, Slayer can choose whether to ‘be’ Luc or Isam:

Slayer just chooses who he will be when he steps into or out of Tel'aran'rhiod. The stepping in and out is part of the mechanism for his change. He couldn't do it in the middle of a street, say, not without the stepping in or out. Which might be a little noticeable, since he would vanish from sight for a perceptible time.

- Robert Jordan on his blog

This includes their persona, appearance and scent. Both Isam and Luc have hardly human scents, probably because they enter Tel’aran’rhiod frequently in the flesh, which results in a loss of the person’s humanity. Slayer is a shape-shifter who changes human form, while Perrin shape-shifts mentally from man to wolf. Perrin worries that he might lose his humanity when he does this. Isam/Luc presumably do not worry about losing their humanity.

Slayer’s ability to enter and leave Tel’aran’rhiod physically without making a gateway is also probably one of his gifts. What he has not been granted is immunity to poison or any weapon (Winter’s Heart, Out of Thin Air).

He has obtained knowledge of the Finns and might have entered the Tower of Ghenjei in Tel’aran’rhiod in The Shadow Rising, which is a very dangerous thing to do. Quite remarkably, the Shadow’s information on the three ta’veren was passed on to him. An example of communication in WOT!

We don’t know what other abilities or gifts Slayer has. He may have some immunity to the One Power – why else was Slayer considered able to kill Rand? Perhaps he obtained a weave breaking ter’angreal from the Finns – this would explain where he got his knowledge of the Finns and his possible ability to come and go from the Tower of Ghenjei.

Slayer’s Deeds

• It was probably Luc, or Slayer in Luc mode since Slayer probably existed then, who killed Janduin in the Blight after the Aiel War (The Shadow Rising, He Who Comes With the Dawn).


• Slayer killed one Grey Person in the White Tower – the Grey Woman found in Black sister Sheriam’s bed or the Grey Man who tried to kill Egwene and Nynaeve.


• Isam killed Amico and Joiya in Tear (Winter’s Heart, Out of Thin Air). Slayer gloated over assassinating two Aes Sedai in the Stone of Tear and a Gray Man in the White Tower yet did not reminisce about killing a renegade Forsaken (Asmodean), which would be an even rarer and highly prized event, so he probably did not.


• He brought Trollocs and Myrddraal to the Two Rivers by the Ways.


• He brought two Grey Men to the Two Rivers to kill Fain (The Shadow Rising, Assurances and A Missing Leaf). The order to kill Fain was still current as of Winter’s Heart, Wonderful News.


• Both Isam and Luc kill wolves in Tel’aran’rhiod.


• Luc encouraged the Two Rivers people to stay on their farms and defy the Whitecloaks.


• Isam shot at Nynaeve in Tel’aran’rhiod (The Shadow Rising, A Cup of Wine).


• Luc tried to lower the morale of Perrin’s group so they didn’t hunt Trollocs, then sent Trollocs to attack the group in a different direction and greater numbers than they expected.


• He led a group of Two Rivers men to antagonise the Whitecloaks.


• He was furious that Taren Ferry was attacked by Trollocs and people escaped across the river to spread information about what was happening. He rightly blamed this on Fain and knew his alias of Ordeith (The Shadow Rising, The Tinker’s Sword).


• Isam tried to kill Perrin in Tel’aran’rhiod and was shot by him in return.


• As Luc he deliberately revealed himself eavesdropping on the three girls in Tel’aran’rhiod so that Temaile would see him (Winter’s Heart, A Plan Succeeds).


• Slayer was ordered by a Forsaken to kill Rand (Winter’s Heart, Out of Thin Air) and killed two other people mistakenly in the Crown of Maredo inn rooms that Rand and co left suddenly.

Slayer’s Names

Isam is a personal name meaning 'protection, security, pledge'. He is pledged to the Dark One and was given gifts to carry out assassinations. His surname Mandragoran refers to Mandragora officinarum (mandrake), the real world equivalent of forkroot (see HerbsHerbs article), a very poisonous plant which in earlier times was believed to have certain magical powers. Its forked root, seemingly resembling the human form, was thought to be in the power of dark earth spirits.

Dried mandragora roots were thought to be given to sorcerers by the Devil so that they could summon and consult the spirit in a time of need. The Forsaken can summon Slayer, who has magical abilities enabling him to be used as the Dark One’s henchman. Note that drake is another name for dragon. Forkroot can nullify the ability to channel and may hint that, as speculated above, Slayer has some immunity, or an item that grants him some immunity, to channelling. He certainly has no fear of the Forsaken and was considered able to kill Rand, who one would think sleeps with a ward around him.

Mantear has the connotations of tearing men (‘man tear’).