Towers of Midnight Read-Through #21: Chapter 14 - A Vow

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

In Tel’aran’rhiod the Land is green, but the sky is threatening. Both the Shadow and the Light of the Pattern is obvious here and the Light is holding up in the battle at the moment.

After Rand’s visit, the Aes Sedai found hidden food stores in good condition. This holding back of Wrongness by the three ta’veren is a continuing motif in Towers of Midnight.

Egwene returns full circle in Tel’aran’rhiod to where she first visited as a beginner. She is aware of how much she has learned since then thanks to her mentors the Wise Ones (and Siuan, as far as Aes Sedai law and politics are concerned), but feels she’ll have to learn as much again. Her judgment is pretty correct, I think. She is a novice Amyrlin even if she is better than some already.

Egwene wants to work on one problem at a time –but so many need attention. So which? And how to solve them ?

Bair says Sorilea won’t like it that Egwene is Amyrlin. This could be for the reason Bair says: that Sorilea thinks Egwene is wasted on the Aes Sedai. A more sinister reason would be that Sorilea doesn’t want Egwene reforming the Aes Sedai and focussing them on what they should be doing: contributing positively to the Last Battle; ie that Sorilea is a Darkfriend. There is no way to tell which is right.

Egwene says whether they are fools or no, she can’t abandon the Aes Sedai. After all, the Wise Ones did not abandon her, but took the trouble to train her. She thanks them for all they did for her and they complement her in turn. It doesn’t happen often that they give direct praise; just as Aes Sedai rarely give thanks.

"The Car'a'carn has embraced death," Amys said. "He has given up trying to be as strong as the stones, and has instead achieved the strength of the wind."

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

The metaphor of Rand having the strength of the wind recalls the image of the wind rising at the beginning of each book, representing the breath of life of the world, as well as a beginning. Rand is frequently likened to a tempest in the last two books, and his advent marks the end of one Age and the beginning of the next or, from another point of view, the beginning of the End, which it is his duty as the Creator’s champion to prevent.

Stones can be broken if hit hard enough or in the right spot; they are often hard but brittle. Amys regards air as superior to earth, as women channellers would do.

This is similar to what Cadsuane told Rand:

"Stone cracks from a hard enough blow," she said, her face an Aes Sedai mask of calm. "Steel shatters. The oak fights the wind and breaks. The willow bends where it must and survives."
"A willow won't win Tarmon Gai'don," he told her.

Knife of Dreams, News For the Dragon

This also reminds me of the song that has been popular throughout the book: “The Wind that Shakes the Willow”.

The Wise Ones think Rand has matured, but are grudging of this, in contrast to their fulsome praise of Egwene. They appear to have lingering doubts or objections about him. Perhaps he has not met all his toh.

Egwene has feet in both Aes Sedai and Wise One camps so she understands the best – and the worst – of both groups. Aes Sedai are better at channelling, Wise Ones at cooperation and leadership. Yet the Aes Sedai have forgotten much of the Age of Legends knowledge, so how well does Wise One cooperation and leadership compare to those of the previous Age? I guess we shall see in the last book, but there was much politicking in the Age of Legends by all accounts, as can be seen in the definition of ajah as:

“an informal and temporary group of people gathered together for a common purpose or goal, or by a common set of beliefs.”

The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time

and Mesaana complementing Aes Sedai manipulation with

“Watching her play her little games is certainly amusing. You children almost match the ajah at times.”

A Crown of Swords, Prologue

So perhaps better. After all, the Aiel were descended from a people that were dedicated to support, while the Aes Sedai concentrated on channelling.

Both groups are insular, and chauvinist (in the general as well as the specific meaning of the word).The Aiel seem arrogant as well as naïve here:

"I wish that there were a way," Egwene said, "to train more sisters in the ways of the Wise Ones."
"You could send them to us," Amys said. "Particularly if they need punishing. We wouldn't coddle them like the White Tower."

Towers of Midnight, A Vow

In fairness to the Wise Ones, Egwene’s treatment was exceptional as well as illegal. The typical Tower training is far milder and slower – which is why the Wise Ones are so disparaging.

The suggestion of cross-training or student exchange is finally raised, and it contrasts with Egwene’s original idea that all female channellers should be under one umbrella organisation. After this, the Kin’s situation is more likely to be acceptable and ratified. Egwene sees benefits in two different cultures working side by side with exchanges.

With some concord reached, Egwene revisits the subject of Rand. The Wise Ones are surprised he went to the Tower after the abuse he suffered when he was kidnapped. Egwene says his idea of breaking the seals is mad and tells them she will be marshalling opposition.

Egwene thinks her friends disloyal – Rand, Gawyn, Nynaeve most of all. Loyalty seemingly being defined as “doing what Egwene wants and not being allowed to explain their own opinions or actions”. There may be some excuse for Egwene to have this attitude to Nynaeve, since she is Nynaeve’s boss, but not for the other two.

A dragon’s fang has appeared in the White Tower rose window in Tel’aran’rhiod. (The rose window makes the White Tower church-like, since the term is usually reserved for churches.)

Did this window represent one of those, another world where Dragon and Amyrlin ruled Tar Valon side by side?

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

The window represents this world – which should have men and women working together. It did once, and is starting to again, so far without the White Tower’s participation. The Tower could be leading the way; instead those channellers in Rand’s group, Perrin’s group and soon even the Black Tower are the ones bringing channellers into balance. The dragon’s fang in the window represents what should and soon will be. The way the symbol has insinuated itself into the heart of the White Tower could be seen as a sly reminder of the existence of male channellers, and as a threat to female channeller exclusivity. It is a statement that Egwene and Rand should work together, not her marshal opposition to him, even if he has planned for it. Saidin and saidar are equal and opposite powers, but the Wheel only turns by them both working together.

Egwene puts Nynaeve on the defensive with news of the Seanchan raid on the Tower. But Nynaeve could do the same about what Rand has been through: where are the Tower Aes Sedai helping Rand?

Egwene says she is doing everything because she doesn’t trust the Aes Sedai to obey her orders. Nynaeve has experienced what Egwene is going through as a too young leader. Most of Nynaeve’s advice Egwene probably knows; she’s mainly having this conversation to get Nynaeve to see how she’s treating Egwene in the same way as she was when promoted too young. Nynaeve does come up with some new advice: don’t give Aes Sedai, especially Sitters, make-work, give good orders, and make sure the sisters are not bypassing her and create a fuss if they are. This leads to Egwene manipulating the Hall to vote on all Sitters of each Ajah to be present for votes, with no one left out, and the Amylin being informed of sittings so there is no going behind her back.

Egwene forces Nynaeve to recognise her authority and that Egwene feels she is disloyal. Nynaeve is not just reluctant to swear obedience to Egwene, but to any Amyrlin. Now Nynaeve knows how older women felt when she was elected Wisdom. One reason for Nynaeve’s reluctance is that Egwene and Elayne are Queens, while she is still “in waiting”.

Egwene is shocked that Elayne and Nynaeve accept that Rand should break the seals. She thinks they must be too influenced by him and need to be around her. In reality the reverse is closer to the truth: Egwene is so isolated from Rand that she has no idea of what the battle with the Shadow and the Dark One has been and will be like. Perhaps Egwene’s interpretation of her dream of Rand chopping the ropes holding a crystal sphere together (Towers of Midnight, The Amyrlin’s Anger) is what makes her convinced that breaking the seals is the wrong thing to do. Egwene is saying the same sort of thing that Latra Posae said back in the Age of Legends: it is too risky to open the Bore.

Nynaeve is told she must take the Three Oaths, otherwise she sets a bad example. Elayne’s vows may be delayed due to her pregnancy. The Sitters say Nynaeve needs to be tested in the ter’angreal, although Egwene thinks Nynaeve has enough experience to be exempted. (As it turns out, Egwene is right, but not in the way she argues here.) Egwene won’t go through the testing herself, having already taken the Oaths more than once.

The Black Ajah use only weaves in Tel’aran’rhiod, not direct thought and control. Egwene was doing this too.

She catches a glimpse of a bloodknife in Tel’aran’rhiod. The bloodknife is not literally there; one may have dreamed themself into the World of Dreams.

Why is it normal for Tel’aran’rhiod to be silent? Is this just a late Third Age condition reflecting the threat to the world? Or, more amusingly, is it a silent reflection of the lack of communication in the series?

At the end of the chapter Egwene tells Elayne and Nynaeve about the Black Ajah. Duhara’s name is not mentioned in Elayne’s thoughts after this, so maybe she was not mentioned in this discussion? That would be the usual turn of events.

As happens at times, there are a few fulfilments of the chapter title ‘A Vow’: Egwene’s silent determination to find Mesaana, Nynaeve’s promise to Egwene:

"I won't treat you the way women did me after I was first named Wisdom,"

Towers of Midnight, A Vow

and, more tenuously, the plan for Nynaeve, and ultimately Elayne, to take the Three Oaths.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #20: Chapter 13 - For What Has been Wrought

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Min is attributing her loss of fitness or athletic prowess to too much studying, and that might be so, but she is more vulnerable than she admits. It’s also a reminder that her youthful vigour will not last, as it will for the channellers.

Rand, on the other hand, has aged from his experiences spiritually and mentally but it shows in his eyes and face. Initially, Min feared that Lews Therin had taken over. The warmth and distorted air around Rand implies some sort of halo effect as though Rand is now a demi-god. Rand, Sol Invictus and “soul of fire”, seems “afire with life” to Min.

She sees new viewings around Rand: an open cavern and blood-stained rocks which are probably a reference to the confrontation in Shayol Ghul. Also, two dead men surrounded by large number of Trollocs, and a pipe with smoke curling from it, which leads us to think that one of the dead men smokes a pipe (for analysis of this viewing see see here).

Min repeats Cadsuane’s idea that Alanna could be used against Rand by the Shadow, but he disagrees, saying:

"The Shadow does not need her to find me, Min, nor will it ever again. All its eyes are fixed directly upon me, and will be until I blind them."

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

So Rand intends to damage or disrupt the Shadow in some way. The blunt dagger ter’angreal with Elayne would hide Rand from the Shadow’s eyes. I have a theory that he may use it to go to Shayol Ghul.

Yet the Shadow could use Alanna to harm or distract Rand, though, eg by killing her. They could do that with a few other people close to Rand though. Rand says that the Shadow can’t kill him before the Last Battle. It is too late for the Shadow to prevent the confrontation of the Last Battle. It also may mean Rand’s confrontation with the Dark One will certainly happen (which we “know” from prophecies and clairvoyance anyway).

The Aiel are not excited Rand is back because he has toh to them for sneaking off in the first place and must both meet it and stop incurring more. We are not shown how Rand meets it, but by his steeling of himself, are left to imagine that it will not be pleasant.

Rand pre-empts Nynaeve’s abuse and tweaks the Aes Sedai’s tails about Cadsuane. This completely takes the wind out of their sails. By dealing openly and honestly with those he has treated badly, Rand’s own opinion of himself improves as does their opinion of him.

Min suggests Rand’s proclamation that Egwene reunified the White Tower is tactless. His positive response to this is such a contrast to how he would have reacted before his epiphany. Cadsuane’s Aes Sedai had not heard that the White Tower is reunified, but then it only happened a day or so earlier. This is confirmation that Cadsuane is not in close touch with the Tower and is running her own show.

Corele expected the White Tower would hold Rand. Rand deliberately stirred up the Tower because he expected opposition to his plans and that the Aes Sedai would be the focal point. Not just because of the Pattern last time, but because he has long experience in how Aes Sedai seem to never follow other leaders’ strategy. One of his main aims is to have the opposition unified so he only has to deal with it once.

“I've poured hot oil into the White Tower, and it will be boiling soon. Time. We don't have time! I will get help to Lan, I vow it to you, but right now I must prepare to face Egwene."

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

Rand has a plan on how to turn their objections and get the Aes Sedai to help close the Bore. He doesn’t know how to seal the Dark One away yet, but seems to be trusting that he will think of it in time – with Min’s help. Callandor is part of the solution. He delays helping Lan, and also in the next scene, dealing with the Black Tower for the usual “reason”: too much more pressing stuff to deal with.

Nynaeve assumes that if Egwene is annoyed with Rand it is because he did something wrong.

Rand learned from Cadsuane that he is not a weapon (but I don’t think this is the thing she will teach Rand and all the Asha’man). He doesn’t say what he is. I think Rand is more a shield as well as a representative of humanity or Everyman that will be sacrificed – a scapegoat in the most positive and literal sense. In the Bible, the scapegoat was a goat chosen to be outcast in the desert while symbolically carrying the sins of the entire people of Israel as part of the Day of Atonement when each Jew tried to amend their behavior and seek forgiveness for the wrongs they had done.

Rand intends to ask Cadsuane to find King Alsalam, who is probably in the Caralain Grass with his Aes Sedai escort. He worked this out after learning that the Tower holds another missing King, Mattin Stepaneos, and guessed that they had tried to bring Alsalam to the Tower but were stymied halfway by the chaos and war. The information on Mattin Stepaneos was probably in Verin’s letter to Rand (see Verin and her Letters article). Her letter probably also informed Rand that High Lord Weiramon was a Darkfriend (see article on Weiramon’s activities), since he said “so it is you” as though he had some prior information.

The Darkfriends were almost unable to look Rand in the face and it was obvious from their difficulty and their body language why:

Weiramon kept glancing at Rand, then looking away…
"Meet my eyes, Weiramon," Rand said softly.
"My Lord Dragon, surely I am not worthy to—"
"Do it."
Weiramon did so with an odd difficulty. He looked as if he was gritting his teeth, his eyes watering.
"So it is you," Rand said. Min could feel his disappointment. Rand looked to the side, to where Anaiyella stood last in line. The pretty woman had pulled away from Rand,
her head turned. "Both of you."
"My Lord—" Weiramon began.
"I want you to deliver a message for me," Rand said. "To the others of your…association. Tell them that they cannot hide among my allies any longer."
Weiramon tried to bluster, but Rand took a step closer. Weiramon's eyes opened wide, and Anaiyella cried out, shading her face.

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

It is as though they cannot bear his Light. Traditionally, the eyes are windows to the soul, so when Rand looks into their eyes he sees into their soul and its allegiance (and they his – the Creator’s Champion). Likewise, the Eye of the World, filled with saidin, was a window to the world soul. It was incomplete and unbalanced (one-eyed) since it held only one of the powers that drives creation, not both. A single eye, albeit also symbolic of the eye of Horus (which represents royal power and good health and was used as such by Rand). And we were told in Book 1 that blinding the Eye of the World was a plot of the Shadow.

Rand cast the Darkfriends out, rather than took them prisoner, because after being exposed they are useless as saboteurs or spies now. Neutralising an enemy without having to use a weapon is a way to earn much ji, which is why the Aiel banged spears on shields in approval. Everyone else is surprised – they expect the Darkfriends to be taken and executed.

Rand believes that Darkfriends can no longer hide among his allies – that he can expose them “because he is no longer blind”. This ties in with the Essanik Cycle prophecy that:

And at its center, the blind man shall stand
upon his own grave.
There he shall see again,
and weep for what has been wrought.

- from The Prophecies of the Dragon, Essanik Cycle. Malhavish's Official Translation, Imperial Record House of Seandar, Fourth Circle of Elevation

- The Gathering Storm, Epilogue

The chapter title refers to this prophecy and Rand did weep in this chapter for what he has done.

In order to expose Darkfriends Rand has to actually go and meet with each group to purify it and regrettably he has delayed going to, or planning how to deal with, the most Darkfriend-ridden group of all: the Black Tower. So he is still blind to a degree.

It seems to me from his statements about what the Shadow can and can’t do that Rand feels a certain amount of immunity to the Shadow now:

”The Shadow made its play for me and lost. It is a war, not subterfuge, that turns the day now."

Towers of Midnight, For What Has Been Wrought

Yet at the end of the book, Lanfear will make a play for Rand, so the Shadow are still trying subterfuge. It will be interesting to see if they succeed even for a short while.

It is meeting Tam that has Rand nervous and reluctant, even more than meeting his toh to the Aiel. This is another reparation that Rand must make and he is greatly ashamed that he has to do so. Tam forgives him for his threats to kill him and for what he has done to others – for what has been wrought by Rand. Rand weeps and all watch understandingly and respectfully.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #19: Chapter 12 - An Empty Ink Bottle

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Min POV

The circular break in the clouds over Tear is because Min is there. The sun shining on Tear parallels the emotional warmth Min feels through the bond and both have the same cause: changes in Rand after his epiphany. This is the first indication that the sun breaks through the Shadow’s cloud barrier where Rand’s three loves are, as well as where Rand is, and food and the Land are healthier. The symbolism is of Rand as Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun, turning the darkness of the Shadow aside. With more power – say having the other two ta’veren with him – he could break the Shadow’s hold altogether.

Rand has been gone for three days. He was “reborn” at his epiphany but this is probably not the parallel with Christ returning from the dead after three days. More correctly, it may be the first and perhaps least of these parallels. I anticipate the main one will be at the confrontation with the Dark One, but for all I know, Jordan may be following his triplicate rule, and there will be three of them. Rand is currently missing but not lost.

Nynaeve wants Min to lead her to Rand because she was concerned Rand was so dark, but Min insists on Rand’s need for privacy. Min knows he has changed outlook (but not personality) but hasn’t told her. Perhaps she thinks Nynaeve needs to see it herself. Or perhaps it is too private a thing to speak of. Or she is just reacting against Nynaeve’s peevishness and bullying.

Min excuses what Rand did at Natrin’s Barrow as “necessary”. Nynaeve still thinks it was monstrous. She fears what Rand had become:

“I knew Rand al'Thor, and the boy still inside him. The man he's become frightens me. I always told him he needed to grow up. And then . . . and then he did." She shivered visibly.

Towers of Midnight, An Empty Ink Bottle

The atrocities he was manipulated into committing are not a sign of adulthood, just as his previous ethics were not a sign of childhood. Rand will show her this in the next chapter.

Nynaeve was not going to answer Cadsuane’s summons on principle but was shown it was important. In contrast, she expected Min to do as she asked, but Min balked.


Cadsuane POV

Cadsuane prefers Corele’s flippancy to other Aes Sedai’s self-importance. Corele felt no channelling when Alanna vanished, but Bera felt a small amount. This is an indication that Bera is stronger in the One Power than Corele. Cadsuane was surprised that Bera fetched her tea because there were lower ranked Aes Sedai present (Rafela, Corele).

Nynaeve is not an Aes Sedai in Cadsuane’s eyes, or so Cadsuane maintains, yet she wonders if Nynaeve is Black, rather than a Darkfriend. (This could be an error.) Cadsuane cuts Nynaeve slack over her frustration that Rand is missing.

Cadsuane knows why two Maidens are tailing Min; namely, to let Wise Ones know when Rand returns, and maybe also what Min says about him. Min disregards them because she has bigger things on her mind.

We don’t know who delivered Verin’s letter to Alanna. Its contents made her go to the Borderlands, probably to her native Arafel. The small amount of Power used that Bera sensed could have been to weave a disguise: as a servant, for instance, someone an Aes Sedai could not imagine another disguised as. A servant would be overlooked and could walk out the rear entries of the Stone unnoticed.

Cadsuane reminds Nynaeve that the Shadow can torture or Compel information about Rand and his whereabouts out of Alanna, which makes Nynaeve regret that Alanna was not better watched. Cadsuane agrees privately with Nynaeve, but disputes with her publicly. Yet only the day before Cadsuane herself appears to have coerced information out of Alanna on Rand’s location.

The tea is perfect because Rand has returned. This ties in with Min’s POV above and with Rand’s healing effect in earlier scenes in Towers of Midnight.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #18: Chapter 11 - An Unexpected Letter

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Elayne is in tantrum mode, peeved at not being allowed to have wine and to injunctions to rest, envying those who are slim, and being angry at her shaky hold on the throne and at Dyelin pressing her to make reasoned judgements (eg on Ellorien and on the captive nobles). Her slowness in releasing the nobles gave Ellorien the opportunity to plead for them, to earn their gratitude and look merciful in Andor’s eyes. Elayne will have to find a different solution to the captives now. She decides to take the Cairhien throne, accepting it as Rand’s gift.

Norry took the initiative to watch Duhara. After rejecting Duhara, and the administration she represents, Elayne over-looked her. Duhara met with Ellorien and may have collaborated with her on ways to show Elayne up, the first one being the letter. Duhara wanted Elayne to see her manipulating nobles to cause political problems so that Elayne would be intimidated into accepting her. Elayne knows Duhara won’t return to the Tower while Elayne is antagonised. The timing is in Elayne’s favour since Egwene has just taken the Tower. However, Egwene doesn’t know Duhara is there and therefore hasn’t told Elayne she is Black.

Elayne has held onto most of the mercenaries. She can’t afford to pay them, but may be providing some food to them. Whether she is or not, they have stayed because food is scarcer and more rotten in most other places. Mat assumed that if Norry knew the Band was camped outside Caemlyn, Elayne would too. He underestimates how much responsibility Elayne’s chief officials have.

Mat’s letter is over the top in its poor spelling compared to his previous letter in A Crown of Swords. Birgitte’s preference for a pretty backside rather than a pretty face on a man made me smile. Her comment that “Mat could dice with the Dark One and win” could be Foreshadowing.

Elayne immediately begins to think of how she can use Mat and his army before she has even set eyes on them. She plans to take the Cairhienin section of the Band to Cairhien with her. They will Travel there, once Elayne obtains the services of the Kin. Really, she assumes a lot here, because she seeing Mat’s letter as supplicatory. His justifiable attempts to make her feel in debt to him in his letter failed.

Elayne (and the reader!) is suffering an overload of emotions currently, but she must also be pragmatic for her nation’s sake:

Elayne loved him. But she didn't intend to see Andor become merely another part of the Dragon's empire. Besides, if Rand were to die at Shayol Ghul, who would rule that empire? It could break up, but she worried that someone—Darlin, perhaps—would be strong enough to hold it together. If so, Andor would stand alone between an aggressive Seanchan empire to the southwest, Rand's successor to the northwest and the southeast and the Borderlanders united together in the north and northeast.
She could not let that happen. The woman in her cringed to think of planning for
Rand's death, but the Queen could not be so squeamish.

Towers of Midnight, An Unexpected Letter

Note that Elayne plans her own alliances or political bloc, whereas Aviendha’s grandchild will play false with other nations, including Andor, and try to break alliances.

Elayne had two unexpected letters in this chapter and was insulted by both of them, although Mat’s also amused and pleased her.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #17: Chapter 10 - After the Taint

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

Perrin POV

Perrin is being pressured to attack the Whitecloaks by his Asha’man, but he is reluctant to do it, in part because he is repelled by battle, and in part because he feels they yet have a role to play in his life, a feeling of events turning full circle:

It felt like the time had come. Time to make an end to his troubles with them, one way or another.

Towers of Midnight, After the Taint

By checking over all his army, whether they need supervision or not, he is treating all sections of his forces equally. Another example of his egalitarianism is that he would rather they didn’t salute him.

The highest ranked Aes Sedai and Wise One worked with Neald to link. This may be a coincidence or not. Neald is the lowest rank of Asha’man and the Wise Ones boss him. He feels balanced when using both halves of the Source. The necessity of balance is a major theme of the series.

Neald does not actually weave saidar, he blends it with saidin. On the other hand, Rand did weave saidar at the cleansing of the taint. Masuri is frightened and revolted by linking with a male – long prejudice, plus she doesn’t know saidin is clean. Moreover Neald is leading the circle, which would add to the feeling of being at the mercy of something or someone. Edarra is more objective, but still cautious. The men haven’t told anyone that the taint is gone because they didn’t want to be thought delusional.

Grady says that he knew he should join the Black Tower because his father could channel and was found by Red sisters. Yet in Lord of Chaos he tried to back out of being tested for the ability and said that his father is looking after the farm. The latter could be a fabrication, but the former is inconsistent with his attitude in this chapter. What he says here is probably an error.

Like Rand, the Asha’man expected to die soon – accepted that they would need to be killed – and will take out as many of the enemy as they can until then.

Galad is superior to other Whitecloaks, which is why he doesn’t smell wrong. He is ultra-correct, but not infallible. His ultimatum to Perrin for a trial by battle with their armies or else he kills Perrin’s camp followers would be at a high cost – typical of Galad – and not one of his best judgements.


Galad POV

Freaked out by Perrin’s yellow eyes, Galad thinks Perrin might be Shadowspawn. He was aware the Aes Sedai could not harm him due to the oath and deduced Perrin did not have the ability or will to kill him with the One Power because he would have done it already. Galad thinks Perrin worries about his image, but actually it is his integrity. So he made the right deduction but used the wrong reason. Galad decided rapidly in favour of fighting because he thinks the Whitecloaks will have a better chance of winning now than at the Last Battle. His judgements are off due to his prejudices. The Trollocs, Morgase, and Perrin himself soon undo that.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #16: Chapter 9 - Blood in the Air

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

The gholam told Mat that he is its priority. This probably stems from Moridin’s order to the Forsaken in Knife of Dreams to kill Mat and Perrin ASAP. Of course, Moridin could be the direct commander of the gholam, but more likely it is one of the Forsaken working in Ebou Dar – Moghedien, Graendal, or Semirhage, although Semirhage had recently been balefired at this time. The gholam said it was instructed to kill those close to Mat to lure him out and perhaps it didn’t lie. This is a recent “order”, since it knew Mat loved Tuon. Mat deduces it learned this by spying on or interrogating people in the camp and not from its controller. That would mean the order was a general instruction to kill those close to Mat, and it filled in the blanks as to who those were. It may not have had recent contact with its controller (which makes it possible that its controller was Semirhage).

The foxhead medallion is more than a symbol of Mat’s luck since it literally prevented the gholam from killing him. Ironically it makes Mat immune from the One Power and protects him from someone also immune to the One Power. When pushed or hunted too far, Mat overcomes his risk aversion and stubbornly retaliates. For the gholam, Mat reached this point finally because of the threat to Tuon.

Mat fighting the gholam in the dark parallels Gawyn fighting the bloodknives in the dark. Both their assailants were very fast and very good at hiding and avoiding notice. Gawyn managed better against his three than Mat did against one. This is not meant to indicate their respective fighting skills, but that of their foes.

Teslyn is clever in quickly using indirect weaves on the gholam. It helped that she saw Mat’s medallion at work back in the menagerie.

The contrast between Joline and Teslyn shows how appearances mislead. Teslyn is physically unattractive, and used to being rejected, yet she is better hearted than most Aes Sedai (most women in the series?), as it turns out. Joline is pretty but spoiled, and is still as immature as Teslyn said back in A Crown of Swords. Mat used to set more store on how women look in his judgment of women. Joline is in a white dress here, but she is not likely to wear white since it is the mourning colour. She brings herself to ask Mat for horses, though it was an effort, and then couldn’t resist advising him not to swear, which spurs him to swear more than ever, especially to Elayne. His letter is so outrageous that Norry finally shows it to her and this leads to her finally granting Mat and co an audience. This is a nice example of the compounding of circumstances.

Ways and Means

By Linda


When I met Brandon in Sydney in April, I asked him if the continents connected in the northern polar region and he said “possibly” in a disinterested fashion. However when I asked if there were many Waygates in Seanchan he tensed and said that was a big RAFO.

The reason for these questions is that I have a theory that forces from Seanchan will be brought unexpectedly to the mainland via the Ways. Unlike Portal Stones and gateways, the Ways don’t require channelling (handy in a land that kills or leashes channellers), and any creature, even Shadowspawn, can be moved along them. If the army left at night, the dark of the Ways would not seem so unnatural.

The secondary part to the theory is: who would bring them? Demandred for one. As a brilliant general he has parallels with Hannibal (247-182 BC) (see here for the Age of Legends part of this parallel), who marched elephants across the Alps and so to war with the Roman Republic. One could compare the heights and depths of the paths and islands in the Ways with the steep passes of a mountain range. The Seanchan literally have elephants (s’redit) of course, but there are other formidable creatures – those from the If worlds – trained for war that could also be brought to terrify mainland forces. It certainly would cause chaos. The If world animals were able to eradicate all the Shadowspawn on the Seanchan continent (The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time) so they’d be a very useful addition to any army wanting to fight or defend itself the Shadowspawn attacking the Westlands, whatever side that army is on… Damane may well be part of this army. There were plenty of them left behind in Seanchan. From what we saw in Chapter 1 of Towers of Midnight, the Seanchan are geared for fighting. A Seanchan army with a very different agenda to that already on the mainland suddenly appearing on th mainland should add nicely to the war.

A Memory of Light Illustrations

By Linda


Darrell Sweet Sketch for A Memory of Light




Link toIrene Gallo's post on the sketch at TOR.com

Rand’s body lies on a bier on a pile of logs in a battlefield. There is possibly fire between the logs, but no smoke. Three women in mourning white circle it. Since they are three ‘witches,’ the scene has a Macbeth-like feel. TOR art director Irene Gallo says the women are Min, Aviendha and Elayne. The blondest woman – Elayne, presumably – is sleeveless, which is atypical of dress in The Wheel of Time – and she doesn’t appear to be pregnant, either. There are swords and arrows in the field, but no evidence that the battle included cannon.

The Aes Sedai symbol in cloud reminded me of the prophecy that “under this sign Rand will conquer” – what? Presumably the Shadow, but what about death too? Irene Gallo hints that the dots of contrasting shade are supposed to be there, when they have previously been missing since at least the Age of Legends as a symbol that the world is not in balance. Darrell Sweet’s son told me that they might have been removed in the final version. So perhaps it was not decided on.

The regularly terraced object in the left background may be a tall buildihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng – though none yet have been described with this style – or a mountain. It glows red at the tip. The whitish mass partially covered by the cloud could be Tar Valon (and therefore the terraced pile would be Dragonmount).

The cover is more apocalyptic than the Whelan cover.


Michael Whelan A Memory of Light Cover




Link to TOR.com's post on the cover

The scene is a cave with limestone stalactites (specifically modelled on the Carlsbad caves). Yet Shayol Ghul is volcanic with an active magma chamber, steam and vapours and “stone teeth” (A Crown of Swords, Mindtrap), NOT stalactites, probably similar to these igneous formations:



Rand walks ahead with Callandor. Two women “who have been with him since the beginning”, according to Irene Gallo, follow him. One, in blue, is probably Moiraine, and other, in yellow and green, is probably Nynaeve (though Nynaeve hasn’t worn yellow, despite being of the Yellow Ajah, because it’s not one of Lan’s favourite colours on women). Rand’s coat has no pockets in this picture, whereas in the books his coats do, and they were big enough to cart around the access key figurine.

There is nice clear light outside – and it’s not very shadowy in the cave, either. This despite the sun being obscured by not only cloud, but the moon as well, it seems. If the drawing is accurate (and for the northern hemisphere), a total solar eclipse will happen in about ten to twenty seconds - and the darkness will last for 7.5 minutes at most.

Another Blog Update

By Linda


On the flight over to the US for JordanCon, I researched a second parallel that Rand and Artur Hawkwing have in common. This is to the Great Khans, Genghis and Kublai in particular, and I've added it to the Rand essay. (The first common parallel being King Arthur.)

Brandon's Sydney Bookshop Visits

By Linda



Brandon Sanderson visited two bookshops today in Sydney - Kinokuniya, and then the Galaxy, to meet the booksellers and to sign shop stock, plus books of people who happened to be there. I went with my son Mark and we were able to have a short conversation with Brandon. One exciting thing that Brandon told me was that Harriet will read a passage from A Memory of Light at JordanCon!

At the Galaxy Bookshop Brandon signed the Guestbook:




just like another author that we know and love did:




And finally my first photo with Brandon:



Brandon and my son Mark talked Magic for a while, and Mark is currently one of the group playing with Brandon tonight at his hotel.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #15: Chapter 8 - The Seven-striped Lass

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

The Seven-striped Lass is a rowdy but clean tavern and is a reference to Tarvalon.net, with its innkeeper Melli Craeb being Melissa Craib, beta reader and Tarvalon.net webmaster. There are a few inns in this scene and in Mat’s other scenes in Towers of Midnight, and their names can be significant (see Towers of Midnight inns article).

Mat is calling himself Master Crimson – the colour of blood and war. The chapter ends with Mat actually smelling the blood that the gholam spills and drinks. Crimson also contains ‘crim’ and Mat will claim a reward for killing this criminal monster.

Curiosity is trying to get the better of Mat, but he is restraining it with difficulty. The same goes for his fondness for women. Mat thinks he’s a heart-breaker now that he’s married. Unfortunately I found the humour of this laboured, it was repeated so often.

Mat is foolish for brooding over Verin’s sealed letter in public where it can be plucked out of his hand. Verin underestimated Mat’s fear and loathing of the One Power and therefore Aes Sedai. Mat thinks Verin’s instructions in her letter could make a much worse delay than waiting out the required number of days. It probably would have prevented Moiraine’s rescue.

In Thom’s opinion there’s something wrong about Verin. She is an atypical Aes Sedai. On the other hand, Mat likes her better than other Aes Sedai. They are kindred spirits – tricksters, neither good nor bad but in between (see Tricksters essay). Thom’s sad song is borne of his sorrow for Moiraine. He is the best bard around. People remember his performances years later.

Mat’s all dolled up in his lace embellished coat with nowhere to go. He is missing Tuon and Elayne won’t see him. (By the way, you can’t half remove a band of lace and more than one band of lace on a sleeve would be very ostentatious on a male’s garment even for Mat.)

People see Caemlyn as safe from the Seanchan and the Dragon, but what about the Shadow, which will attack at the end of the book? Safeness is an illusion, since Wrongness is rife.

From the outskirts of the camp, Mat looks back at Caemlyn ablaze with light and remembers his memories of assaulting it:

Mat glanced over his shoulder as the two of them crested a hilltop. Caemlyn was ablaze with the light of torches and lamps. Illumination hung over the city like a fog, grand spires and towers lit by the glow. The old memories inside him remembered this city—remembered assaulting it before Andor was even a nation. Caemlyn had never made for an easy fight. He did not envy the Houses that had tried to seize it from Elayne.

Towers of Midnight, The Seven-striped Lass

foreshadowing of the city under siege at the end of the book when Talmanes will stand in the camp and see the city ablaze, but this time for real.

Mat is fond of Teslyn (an Aes Sedai!), but taunts her in conversation. It is almost flirty. She is grateful to Mat and thanks him for rescuing her. She feels in debt and will repay it, when most Aes Sedai feel the world owes them everything and never acknowledge a debt.

"Remember, should you ever come to the White Tower, you do have women there who are in your debt, Matrim Cauthon. I do not forget."

Towers of Midnight, The Seven-striped Lass

This is probably foreshadowing of Mat going to the Tower to get the Horn and needing her help. I get the feeling Teslyn will do her utmost to get Joline to help, and Edesina, though Joline will try to ‘tame’ Mat as payment – perhaps for the joke sweet buns.

Teslyn acknowledges that her belief she could have resisted the Seanchan is an illusion necessary for her self-respect. Remarkably, since she loathes men (see Teslyn article) and dislikes to touch them, she shakes his hand. Hers is hard, but warm. She is not cold-blooded.

Mat feels kindness to her in return and offers her horses and supplies. She protested that she was sincere and not trying to manipulate him. He said that’s why he made the offer.

Teslyn is a very interesting minor character. Her trauma made her so desperate that she ended up “reformed” by a man. She now treats men – one man at least – better than many Greens do.

If Mat hadn’t spoken with Teslyn, she would not have been able to save him from…(to be continued).

I'll pause the read-through for a couple of weeks while I am at JordanCon and then on vacation. Really looking forward to talking with the Wheel of Time community in a few days' time! Hope to see you there.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #14: Chapter 7 - Lighter Than A Feather

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

The chapter title refers to the Borderlander saying about death being easier than duty. It is Lan’s and Perrin’s hard duty to face the past, accept their responsibilities and carry on. They will be better leaders and more balanced people for it. Sandwiched between their POVs is that of Galad, the perfect knight who has pretty much had the perfect run until now.

Mind you, none of the men's spirits are lighter than a feather.


Lan POV

The POV begins as a master and apprentice scene – Lan is pleased with Bulen’s progress, but thinks he talks too much.

Andere was the unnamed guard in Kandor whom Bukama berated in New Spring, Into Canluum. Nazar was in the same chapter:

Then a jut-nosed man named Nazar Kurenin rode in front of Bukama's eyes, and he did not blink. The young guard surely had been born after the Blight swallowed Malkier, but Kurenin, his hair cut short and wearing a forked beard, was twice Lan's age. The years had not erased the marks of his hadori completely.

New Spring, Into Canluum

At this time Lan was about 25 years old, so Nazar was about 50 and had given up his hadori years earlier, since Lan remarked that the marks were still there years later. In this chapter Lan says Nazar “took it off when he was a lad.” This must mean when Lan was a lad. Nazar would have been 25 when Malkier fell.

Lan’s reluctance to lead others into battle and possibly to their deaths mirrors Perrin’s. Andere and Nazar say Lan isn’t their captain or king, and insist on their choice. Lan can’t have it both ways and is forced to accept their company. His group is a kind of reverse attrition and gradually erodes his refusal to be a king.


Galad POV

Everyone has the same humble breakfast porridge in Galad’s camp . He is conscious that elsewhere people starve.

Byar is gaunt and sunken-cheeked as though being consumed by a canker – not a physical illness, but a spiritual one. He is rotting within. Eyes are windows to the soul and Byar’s are sunken.

Byar suggests that if they beat Perrin, they can convince Alliandre she owes them and then can set up base in Ghealdan. Dismissively he says that the Last Battle could be months away. Byar claims he knows how to defeat Perrin’s farmers and their deadly longbows and staves. This is probably not a veiled reference to an ambushing force ahead, since Byar never shows shock that Shadowspawn are waiting at that place. Moreover, if Byar is aware that the force is Shadowspawn, and expects it to attack Shadowspawn Perrin and his Darkfriend farmers, he is never appalled when it turns on the Whitecloaks instead. I think he is spouting arguments that Graendal planted in his mind, subtly mixed with his own beliefs. According to Sammael, she is the mast of this sort of Compulsion as well as the mind-wipe type.

Galad is undecided whether it was coincidence that Trollocs and Perrin arrived in Two Rivers at same time. He decides to meet Perrin.


Perrin POV

Perrin rejects the traditional breakfast of bread and cheese. He wants meat. It’s quite a contrast with Galad’s breakfast. Both are breaking with tradition: Perrin with what it is customary for people to eat, Galad with what it is customary for the privileged to eat.

The conflict between Perrin’s wolfish and human side shows here and revolts Faile to a degree. Perrin doesn’t know why Faile rejects golden belts, because she has yet to explain her days as gai’shain. She sticks with practical leather belts, symbolising that she now leads by example instead of demanding the privileges of her birth.

The night Hopper died still haunts Perrin. It was when he killed people for the first time.

Was this part of being ta'veren? Could Perrin not escape that night, years ago?...The Whitecloaks would not leave him alone, and the Pattern—burn it!—was going to keep looping them into his path until he dealt with them.

Towers of Midnight, Lighter Than a Feather

This is the first of his issues that must be dealt with; then Faile/Berelain (mirrored by Bain and Chiad driving Gaul to distraction here with their games), then Isam and the dream, then leadership. After that, Perrin makes his masterpiece. His issues with Berelain and Galad are resolved – and they join together, oddly.

Until this book Perrin’s role to the Aiel is an ambivalent one:

Among the Aiel, nearly every man—all but blacksmiths—would pick up a spear if they were attacked.

Towers of Midnight, Lighter Than a Feather

Yet Perrin is a Blacksmith among them who fights with weapons – any weapon but a sword. The Aiel would be content with that. Soon, he will forge an amazing weapon and an amazing army, and from this, power-wrought weapons will be re-invented.

If the Whitecloaks hadn’t captured his camp followers, Perrin might have avoided them, but he will parley with the Children to get his people back.

For all three men, the choices they are making here set up their achievements for the remainder of the series.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #13: Chapter 6 - Questioning Intentions

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

On the surface, the chapter title refers to Morgase’s intentions toward Tallanvor, Andor and Perrin, which climaxed when Perrin said Morgase should marry. Yet it is also about leadership intentions: especially Perrin’s role and the way the other people working closely with him react to how he is fulfilling it – or not.

Morgase notices Faile is a better leader now, after Malden. She is almost tempted to advise Perrin on leadership, but then reminds herself that he has declared himself lord of part of Andor. Plus she has no need to; Faile can, and should, do the job instead.

Perrin and Faile are matched perfectly in Morgase’s opinion. And so they are: Wild King and Queen, Strength and Temperance). So well matched, and so well connected - he to Rand, she to Saldaean royalty - that as a couple they pose a threat to Andor.

Perrin wants Alliandre to return to her nation now that the mission is over because she was forced by circumstances to join them. In the same way, he isn’t recruiting; people just beg to join him and his army. His advisors insist he should keep them all and make a proper army, but he won’t take the responsibility and so demands his banners be burnt. Everyone is disappointed with Perrin for issuing this command, even Morgase, who wanted them gone. She realises that with the Last Battle coming someone needs to unite people and lead them. This is something Andoran monarchs have not done in the Two Rivers for centuries – which Perrin claimed as his domain, yet Morgase strongly objects to. Perrin intends to send the Two Rivers people home with Tam. Berelain reminds Perrin how obligated he is to his forces, who he is now dismissing so cavalierly. Masuri is nervous when the rulers encourage Perrin to keep his army but he rejects this and says Rand can get the forces if he wants to. He is a long way off understanding he is the Dragon’s bannerman.

Perrin accepts Edarra’s rebuke that he has neglected his responsibilities as a leader and has yet to earn her respect. He always had a strong sense of duty and he can see and feel what responsibilities it entails so well that they are more than he is prepared to accept, in contrast to Mat, say, who just blithely muddles on, reacting to events as they occur and only seeing their true significance at their climax, or even not until afterwards; or Galad, who sees their full import but accepts that the Pattern has placed him in the position to take these responsibilities. Galad always does his duty and expects others to do likewise. This is where Galad falls down: other people disappoint him, whereas Perrin is currently disappointing others. The two men are very similar in their values and personalities, but the way they react to duty leads to different leadership outcomes. When Perrin finally accepts his role, the two men have a strong mutual understanding and respect and get on very well.

Like many people who have no experience with a stratified society and servants in particular, Perrin gets it wrong, being either too friendly or else too autocratic (as here) when he commands MOrgase to marry. Morgase unbends a little and advises him to learn from Faile.

Morgase still has some inner conflict, but accepts her great drop in position and makes the best of it. She realises how much was beneath her notice before. As one of those lower ranked, who are led and not leaders, Morgase now appreciates the role of a servant and what skill is involved in the position. With her weeks of harsh on-the-job experience in Malden, she has a far better idea than Elayne. In hindsight, Elayne’s mistakes in Tanchico, curtseying to another, slightly higher ranked servant as a maid would curtsey to a noble, are quite ludicrously naive. The servant thought she was mocking her:

Thinking quickly, Elayne bobbed a servant's curtsy and picked up the tray; a servant carrying something was going about her work and not likely to be stopped or told to do something else. Lady Ispan? Not an uncommon name in Tarabon, but there was an Ispan on the list of Black sisters.
"So you mock me, do you, you little cow you?" the stout woman roared, and started around the table waving her thick wooden spoon threateningly.
There was nothing to do without giving herself away; nothing but stay and be hit, or run. Elayne darted out of the kitchen with the tray, Nynaeve and Egeanin at her heels. The cook's shouts followed them, but not the cook, thankfully. An image of the three of them running through the palace pursued by the stout woman made Elayne want to giggle hysterically. Mock her? She was sure that had been exactly the same curtsy servants had given her thousands of times.

The Shadow Rising, Into the Palace

Being subject to Gaebril, then Whitecloaks, then Aiel has been a steady downhill spiral in Morgase’s eyes. Yet Gaebril was the worst of the three since he stole her will without her knowing.

Morgase once had so much self-confidence that Compulsion had to be constantly renewed on her:

Compulsion had presented no difficulties with this woman.
A scowl twisted his face. It did with some. A few-a very few-had a strength of self so firm that their minds searched, even if unaware for crevices through which to slide away. It was his bad luck that he still had some small need for one such. She could be handled, but she kept trying to find escape without knowing she was trapped.

The Fires of heaven, Prologue

Now:

She wasn't sure what she was, but she would learn how to do her duty as a lady's maid. This was becoming a passion for her. A way to prove to herself that she was still strong, still of value.
In a way, it was terrifying that she worried about that.

Towers of Midnight, Questioning Intentions

The good thing is that Rahvin’s Compulsion has worn off.

Alliandre is uncomfortable now that her time of enforced servitude is over and she has been restored to her original status while Morgase, who was her equal for a time, still serves. The queen of Ghealdan and, to a lesser degree, Faile believe in inherited social standing (more so than Davram Bashere, who told Perrin that all nobles were commoners once, and can become so again if they are sufficiently incompetent or unlucky) and writhe in embarrassment when Morgase is revealed to be a (former) Queen of a powerful country.

Servant role or no, Morgase is still thinking like a Queen. She realised that she had to stay away from Caemlyn until Elayne establishes herself. For one thing she made enemies under Rahvin’s influence and is therefore a liability to Elayne. She worries that Elayne is not queen yet, or even in Caemlyn.

Perrin rather brusquely suggests Morgase and Tallanvor marry as soon as possible. Had he phrased it more tactfully, he might not have put Morgase’s back up and made Tallanvor miserable. However, legitimately being able to tell Perrin off really restores Morgase’s confidence:

It seemed she had some spark left in her after all. She hadn't felt that firm or certain of herself since . . . well, since before Gaebril's arrival in Caemlyn!

Towers of Midnight, Questioning Intentions

Morgase eyed the Aiel askance and criticised them for insulting Aes Sedai, but she now sounds rather like an Aiel woman insisting on her right to ask the man herself.

She is distracted in her search for Tallanvor to soothe him by scouts returning with news and goes to eavesdrop. In contrast with Perrin she puts knowledge gathering for Andor ahead of her beloved.

Morgase thinks the Wise Ones are as haughty as Aes Sedai – but they are leaders in their society.

The Wise One Nevarin takes the literal meaning of what Perrin says, and presses him on it. Perrin doesn’t respond to her challenge, but makes more obvious what he wanted to know. She then has a dig at Wetlanders instead, and Faile defends them gently. Perhaps Nevarin is trying to make Perrin ask things plainly and in a way that does not imply others are incompetent – a better leader as she sees it.

Similarly, Edarra, later in this chapter rebukes Perrin for his disinterest in his role as leader. He takes it better than some thought he would or should. She pounces on Perrin’s statement that Rand isn’t in Cairhien. Morgase correctly suspects Perrin has a source of information that he doesn’t share. Understandably, since this is his psychic link with Rand.

The Aes Sedai told Edarra that women channellers could link with the men. Seonid and Masuri have earned the right to speak without having to ask aloud, but just take visual cues on whether any Wise One wants to speak first. Morgase is appalled that Aes Sedai have lost their status. She is indignant on their behalf, yet her own change of position was greater and harsher and for less cause. Both Aes Sedai accept their situation, which is probably why they are now given more latitude. However, Edarra still refers to them as apprentices.

Balwer worked out that moving people through gateways will be more time-consuming than Perrin thought and that the Asha’man are not up to it. In a way, the Pattern may have made the most of the bubble of evil by keeping them together until Perrin truly accepts his duty.

Balwer is keen to go to Cairhien with the scouting party. He loves information, so perhaps that is all that is behind this eagerness. Perhaps.

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.

Towers of Midnight Read-Through #11: Chapter 4 - The Pattern Groans

By Linda


WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT


Perrin POV

The chapter opens with the wrongness theme (see Wrongness essay) literally uppermost. Blighted plants are thriving better than natural ones:

What kind of world is it where the Blight is the good alternative?

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

It is a world turning upside down, and now the Blight has come to Ghealdan. In the centre of the wrongness is a village built of what sounds like palm logs or bamboo and palm leaves – a tropical island settlement complete with sand in the middle of the continent:

The buildings were huts built from an odd type of wood, like large reeds, and the roofs were thatch—but thatch built from enormous leaves, as wide as two man's palms. There were no plants here, only a very sandy soil.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

The building is probably of the current time, but it has moved location. We have also seen buildings that were out of the time, but may have been at more-or-less the right location. Such manipulations are like Tel’aran’rhiod.

"The Pattern groans," Berelain said softly. "The dead walking, the odd deaths. In cities, rooms vanish and food spoils."
Perrin scratched his chin, remembering a day when his axe had tried to kill him. If entire villages were vanishing and appearing in other places, if the Blight was growing out of rifts where the Pattern was fraying . . . Light! How bad were things becoming?

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

The event in Tear Perrin remembers was the second bubble of evil that we saw damaging the Pattern. The first was in Shienar when Rand was pushed into the path of Lan’s practise sword by the wind.

Perrin sees that Tel’aran’rhiod not only reflects the waking world but anticipates it. In the dream the storm in the sky appears more violent and threatening, and closer– but Perrin is sensitive to Tel’aran’rhiod and the ta’veren and the Dragon’s bannerman would attract wrongness. Perrin, Rand and Mat were the first targets of the Dark One.

And then we see that Perrin still hasn’t shaken off his own wrongness. Perrin thinks that becoming a wolf means losing his (human) identity. Yet Hopper accepts him as both wolf and man. Man/wolf is Perrin’s identity.

He realises the village where he saw Noam is not far from where his army is camped. This is not a coincidence, as he also realises. Perrin needs to figure out who he is and contact with Noam helps some, but Hopper helps far more. Perrin won’t understand Noam until late in the book after he has sorted himself out and become victorious.

I can't ignore my problems! Perrin thought back.
Yet you often do, Hopper sent.
It struck true—more true, perhaps, than the wolf knew.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

I think Perrin underestimates Hopper.

The parts of what Perrin tried to make – Thor’s hammer Mjolnir – in the dream at the beginning of the book have turned up in Tel’aran’rhiod.

The rectangle is the capping bracket – the capstone of the hammer. As the key part to completing the hammer, its heat burnt the grass around it in Tel’aran’rhiod, just as the hammer will burn Trollocs later. Remarkably the burned area remained, when Tel’aran’rhiod usually heals itself readily. Contemporaneously with this dream is the burning of the Blighted tropical village in Ghealdan in the waking world by the Wise Ones. This also is probably not coincidence.

There will be no creation of Mah’alleinir, Perrin’s masterpiece so vital to the Last Battle, until he works on his problems, the pieces of himself he does not understand.

You couldn't make a thing until you understood its parts. He wouldn't know how to deal with—or reject—the wolf inside him until he understood the wolf dream.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

Perrin needs to understand his own parts so he can make himself stronger and then temper everyone else.

Hopper can’t see precognitive visions in windows but he does see the burned patch that the hammer’s ‘capstone’ left and links it to Perrin’s poor psychological state after Faile was captured. Perrin is in a poor psychological state again – or is it still? - and attributes it to worrying about Faile’s capture and how to get her back. In Hopper’s opinion it was due to Perrin denying his role as Wolf King and leader of a human army. When Hopper says that the newest pup blames the elders of the pack he thinks Perrin is blaming the wolves for his problems. With his Two Rivers stubbornness, Perrin isn’t even at risk of giving in to the wolves, although he fears he is. A fair part of this fear came from seeing Noam in the waking world and from Moiraine’s partly mistaken information.

Hopper

didn't like what he'd called a human tendency to wish to control things.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

The wolf wants humans to accept things as they are and make the best of them instead of complaining and trying to change things without knowing what they are doing.

As a shapeshifter (or mind shifter), Perrin fears not coming back to his dominant form. Hopper equates Perrin’s belief that he will lose himself completely if he joins in as a wolf as an example of wrongness, and a nihilistic one.

These things you think, Hopper sent, displeased. How can you think such images of nothing? The response was accompanied by images of blankness—an empty sky, a den with nobody in it, a barren field.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

The wolf’s point is that Perrin has to be the best he can be in either shape and in firm control of who he is and who he wants to be. And also to stop whining and get over it.

Perrin loves being in the Wild. He is King of the Wild (see Perrin essay), just as his tempestuous wife is its Queen:

The forest was his. It belonged to him, and he understood it…
So much a part of the world around him, yet master of it at the same time?

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

In Tel’aran’rhiod the Wild is wilder, since domesticated creatures do not show up there. After fearing to join in the hunt because he might stay a wolf, Perrin then gets carried away and has to be restrained from killing the stag. It is typical of him to hold back and then overdo it. Feelings that are dammed up eventually burst out violently. He horrifies himself when he is tempted to turn on Hopper – his mentor – for balking him of his prey. This parallels Rand turning on Tam in The Gathering Storm (yet to happen on the timeline). Hopper forces Perrin to admit that his true feelings are worry, not fear. Perrin realises that Hopper’s teaching is going to make him exert himself to the utmost and accepts it. Hopper is very much the animal spirit guide to Perrin the shaman (see PerrinPerrin essay).

Hopper has accepted Perrin’s demand to be taught:

Perrin had demanded that Hopper train him to master the place. Very inappropriate for a young wolf—a kind of challenge to the elder's seniority—but this was a response. Hopper had come to teach, but he would do it as a wolf taught.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

Perhaps it was something of a royal command from the Wolf King, but more importantly, Hopper has an undercurrent of worry for the Last Hunt. Hopper knows that if Rand makes the wrong choice there won’t be Tarmon Gai’don and the world is lost. Likewise all three ta’veren have to be there. Hence he will help Perrin become “wolf plus”.

Perrin has three visions, something that only happens when he is personally under threat – usually from Shadowspawn. The first is of Mat fighting against himself, while a shadowy figure creeps upon him with a knife. The shadowy creature is probably the gholam that was tracking Mat. Mat fighting himself in different guises may refer to Mat’s memories or to his different roles that pull him in different directions. Or both these things.

The second is of:

sheep, suddenly, running in a flock toward the woods. Wolves chased them, and a terrible beast waited in the woods, unseen. He was there, in that dream, he sensed. But who was he chasing, and why? Something looked wrong with those wolves.

- Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

Perrin figures out at least some of the meaning:

"My armies here, they're being herded, Faile. Like sheep being driven to the butcher."
He suddenly remembered his vision from the wolf dream. Sheep running in front of wolves. He'd thought himself one of the wolves. But could he have been wrong?
Light! He had been wrong about that. He knew what it meant, now. "I can feel it on the wind," he said. "The problem with gateways, it's related to something happening in the wolf dream. Somebody wants us to be unable to escape this place."

- Towers of Midnight, Judgement

It seems Perrin’s initial thought was that the wolves were him and his army chasing Whitecloak sheep. But the wolves smell wrong to Perrin and so does this interpretation. The wolves of wrongness are more likely Isam – who called himself a wolf when he speaks with Perrin – and the dreamspike with which he trapped and killed wolves and tries to do likewise to Perrin’s group. The hidden beast is probably the Shadowspawn ambush.

The last vision is of thousands of people, including ones Perrin knows, walking toward a cliff. This may represent all the people walking toward the Last Battle and the possible end of everything. Rand has not yet had his epiphany, so the Light are likely to lose at this point.


Galad POV

Galad has sent a letter to the remnant of the Children and Questioners with the Seanchan explaining events and ordering them to join him. Nothing comes of this in Towers of Midnight.

In order to make the Questioners less exclusive and less adversarial, they have been split and mixed with the Children. It is a great idea of Galad’s to stop them setting themselves apart from the other Whitecloaks. He explains the errors of the Questioners:

The Questioners often could not tell the difference between a hardened Darkfriend, a person who was being influenced by Darkfriends, and a person who simply disagreed with the Children."

Towers of Midnight, The Pattern Groans

Naturally the Children object to allying with Aes Sedai. Galad says Aes Sedai are nothing compared to the Dark One and the Children must fight at the Last Battle with whoever else fights. They also need to set an example to the nations. With far less strength and no power base, Whitecloaks are vulnerable now and therefore can’t be arrogant anymore. Of course, they never should have been. Galad says they have to use diplomacy in their dealings with others (just as he is with the Children in this speech), and need to earn the respect of the nations and rulers. Yet he doesn’t know how to get the Whitecloaks accepted within the nations without having to bow to rulers or intimidate them with their forces as they used to do. The Children have similar problems to Aes Sedai, who have also demanded respect, kept themselves apart, and lost face by contributing nothing to the war against the Shadow.

Galad decides he needs to be very precise in his orders to Byar, who otherwise becomes a liability. Byar now rides Asunawa’s white horse, a very distinctive animal that sets him apart from the others. Byar is supposedly pristine but has Asunawa’s errors of excessive zeal and paranoia. Soon we see that Byar is touched by the Shadow. There are hints that Asunawa was too: his strange behaviour, reading The Way of the Light like a new recruit, and the smell of the Blight near him in the camp in Crossroads of Twilight Prologue. His behaviour was also divisive and weakened the Children.

The men are worried. This situation mirrors Perrin’s POV in the same chapter, although in a reverse way: it is Perrin the leader who worries more than his troops. Galad does not worry because it is pointless; since he can’t know the Pattern, he accepts the Pattern as it is and does his best within it. When Perrin accepts his role in the Pattern, a lot of his worrying will ease and his leadership will improve. An important difference between Perrin and Galad is that Perrin has a wife, who was captured and treated harshly, and Galad does not. And now the two men are coming together thanks to Byar bringing Perrin’s camp followers to Galad. (Byar’s statement “We may have a situation here” sounds too modern.)

Galad is observant and shrewdly sceptical in this scene. He has had good training, and, unlike his brother Gawyn, has made the best of it.

The rumour of a gigantic stone which fell to earth destroying a city and leaving a crater north of Andor is probably derived from the destruction of Shadar Logoth.

Wheel of Time Embroidery Collection #6: Nynaeve's Dress

By Linda

This next instalment of my occasional series on Wheel of Time embroideries is on a sampler I did of one of Nynaeve’s dresses given to her in Shienar. It is the first dress she wears that is not Two Rivers woollens so it is a landmark garment:

Her dress was pale blue silk, embroidered in snowdrop blossoms around the neck and down the sleeves. Each blossom centered on a small pearl, and her belt was tooled in silver, with a silver buckle set with pearls. He had never seen her in anything like that. Even feastday clothes back home might not match it.

The Great Hunt, Dark Prophecy

This remark of Rand’s shows his naivety at this time. I am quite sure that Nynaeve’s feastday clothes could not match this outfit. She would not own a dress of silk, let alone one of such an impractical colour that would get marked very easily. Moreover the embroidery includes precious ‘stones’ - the pearls – and there are more on her belt buckle. It is a very beautiful and expensive outfit.

My aim in this series is to embroider samplers of the garments in materials and colours consistent with what would have been available in RJ’s world. For Nynaeve’s dress I decided to do the bodice embroidery and played around with a few designs. Real world snowdrops are bulb plants with strap-like dark green leaves and three-petalled flowers that hang from the stem (see photo right). (Garden varieties can have more petals.) Very quickly I realised that I could not get a design with leaves and hanging flowers to work, so I decided on an end-view of the flowers with the pearl in place of the cup part of the flower.






I embroidered the flowers in white soie d’alger silk thread on pale blue silk satin. The satin I found was thin so I used double thickness. Then I attached a pearl bead to each flower with green silk thread. Snowdrops have small dots of green on the carpel so I added a few small stitches in a single strand of green silk around the pearl. Since the sampler is a demonstration piece for my workshop Enhancing Male and Female Wheel of Time Costumes at JordanCon in Atlanta next month, I marked the neckline in a strand of the green silk.