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apocalypticavolition · 7 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 11: Tar Valon

I'm a day later with this than I would have liked so I'm cutting the crap. This post has spoilers for almost everything Wheel of Time and should not be read by people who don't like spoilers. Thank you.

This chapter has the Flame of Tar Valon icon because it's about Tar Valon. Also let's all take one last chance to giggle at the map. Let's hope that the Ogier Grove isn't the metaphysical equivalent of a herpes sore.

A square of pikemen marched along the streets, ranks and files bristling like a carding comb, followed by bowmen in flat, rimmed helmets, with filled quivers riding at their hips and bows slanted across their chests. A squadron of armored horsemen, faces hidden behind the steel bars of their helmets, gave way to Verin and her party at a wave of their officer’s gauntleted hand.

It's rather ironic that Siuan's increasing the security of the island and its nearby villages in her last few months in office since of course absolutely none of them will be able to do anything about the real threat to the Tower once it arrives.

Just the same, the balding man seemed to be taking his time about making sure each one had a right to enter Tar Valon before he let them go.

Is this just the man's actual nature, or is it a sign that Mesaana has arrived in Tar Valon and is corrupting the populace?

They say there’s a new false Dragon out west somewhere. Why, they even say he has Artur Hawkwing’s armies, back from the dead, following him, and that he killed a lot of Whitecloaks and destroyed a city—Falme, they call it—in Tarabon, some say.

Frankly it's good that the truth is at least vaguely recognizable in this, when absolutely none of it IS true.

Things had changed, and not for the better. When she had left Tar Valon, any man who spoke against Aes Sedai would have been lucky to escape with a punch in the nose from whoever overheard.

Again, is this Mesaana's doing? If not, then what's got the people who have the least business hating Aes Sedai so negative? The Whitecloaks aren't that convincing... though perhaps the troube with Elayne after so much else has gone wrong or weird has people losing their patience.

If she ever returned to Emond’s Field—the “if” hurt, but she had to be honest—if she returned, it would be to visit, to see her parents.

She never does and I'm still a bit angry at Sanderson for it. Jordan would certainly have expected her to return at some point, if only to visit Perrin.

Great buildings and small, in stone of every color, looking like shells, or waves, or wind-sculpted cliffs, flowing and fanciful, captured from nature or the flights of men’s minds. The dwellings, the inns, the very stables—even the most insignificant buildings in Tar Valon had been made for beauty. Ogier stonemasons had built most of the city in the long years after the Breaking of the World, and they maintained it had been their finest work.

Jordan dedicates so much space to how beautiful the city is that I have to share a little of it. It's a shame we don't get to enjoy Tar Valon more.

“I always expect trouble,” Verin replied placidly, “and so should you. In the Tower most of all. You must all of you be more careful than ever, now. Your . . . tricks”—her mouth tightened for an instant before serenity returned—“frightened away the Whitecloaks, but inside the Tower they may well bring you death or stilling.”

Verin is doing her best to warn the girls about the Black Ajah within the confines of the three oaths she's sworn.

“I cannot waste a day, Verin Sedai. Not another hour. I must return to Shienar, to tell King Easar, and Lord Agelmar, the truth of what happened at Falme. I must tell them about—” He cut off abruptly and looked around.

Yes Hurin, if you don't make a mad dash north then how will the monarchs of the Borderlands spend seventy-two books abandoning their posts to fulfill the world's lamest prophecy?

He was only a man, and helpless as a babe when it came to facing whatever might await them in the Tower. Yet his leaving made their number one less, and she could never help thinking that a man with a sword was useful to have around. And he had been a link to Rand, and Perrin.

You never hear about stuff like this in the big Egwene hatedom lists, about how she misses Rand and Perrin so intently she'll cling on to some dude who is only a loose connection to them for the sake of feeling closer to them.

Verin was already riding through the gates as he spoke. She rode as if there were no hurry.

Verin knows there isn't a hurry. She knows Mat's ta'veren and that the Pattern is weaving itself around him. She probably would have been much more concerned if she was getting to Tar Valon and was under the impression that Mat still had days to spare instead of hours because that would suggest that the Pattern was going to find a way to use them.

As the horses were led away into the stable, Verin took the leather sack from Mat’s feet and tucked it carelessly under one arm.

And again we see the proof that Verin is an incredible actress who could fool the Black Ajah for decades. Any of the girls would hold the bag with fear and reverence and thus make it clear to anyone who came to them that the bag was important, but anyone who sees Verin with it will probably assume she found a bunch of old books in a ditch somewhere and had to read them.

“We did not—” Egwene began, but Verin cut her off with a sharp, “BE SILENT!” Verin stared at her—at each of the three of them—as if the intensity of her look could hold their mouths shut.

Objectively speaking, it can and it does.

“I suppose,” Verin said, “that the whole Tower knows we have returned by now?”

See what I mean? Moiraine is crazy for thinking Min can make an unremarkable entrance.

“Not a word, Verin Sedai said, and not a word shall it be. If one of you speaks—except to answer an Aes Sedai, of course—I’ll make you wish you had nothing but a switching and a few hours scrubbing floors to worry about. Do you understand me?”

I don't know if Sheriam knows Verin is Black - obviously the cell structure is meant to stop would-be Verins from dismantling the organization from within - but if she does she's probably being extra thorough to enforce her rule on the assumption that it's part of their evil scheming.

And you three, who have more ability born in you than I ever hoped to see in my lifetime, left the Tower without permission, ran away not even half-trained, like irresponsible children, stayed away for months.

It's a pretty shitty thing to do to these girls's reputation to try and pretend that the Black Ajah doesn't exist, and of course it soon becomes a completely pointless gesture anyway. The Light side's efforts to engage in shadows and secrecy never really come to much for some thematic reason or another, bar Moiraine's mostly offscreen quest.

“Give over, Faolain,” another of the Accepted said. The oldest of the three, she had a willowy neck and coppery skin, and a graceful way of moving. “I will take you,” she told Nynaeve.

Our first introduction to Faolain and Theodrin! Rather funny that Egwene will use them to justify her own policies, considering how they meet. I always thought they were gonna get involved in something bigger towards the end, but they stay relatively bit players and that's probably for the best.

Egwene returned Faolain’s stare with as much calm as she could manage, and, she hoped, a measure of the haughty, silent contempt that Elayne had adopted. Red Ajah, she thought. This one will definitely choose the Reds.

She chooses Blue.

Next time: A Siuan POV!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #egwene al'vere #verin mathwin #hurin #mat cauthon #nynaeve al'meara #elayne trakand #sheriam bayanar #faolain orande #theodrin dabei

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apocalypticavolition · 9 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 10: Secrets

Secrets come in a variety of forms, and one can argue that the later parts of a story are secrets from everyone who hasn't read that part of the story yet, or at least looked them up on a fan wiki. If you don't want those kind of secrets when it comes to The Wheel of Time series, from book 1 to book 14 plus a prequel, don't keep reading.

This chapter starts with a Whitecloak symbol because they're going to cause Egwene grief.

I will never be collared again! She pushed the thought away, but it came back turned end about. I will never lose my freedom again!

So, as we can see, Egwene has not magically recovered from her months of trauma after months off freedom. Indeed, she will never fully recover and frankly I expect that even if she'd survived the book series she'd have issues for the rest of her life.

Anaiya would be there. And Galad, too, perhaps. She blushed in spite of herself, and banished him from her mind entirely.

Jordan was probably still laying groundwork for the finale that didn't happen with her and Galad pairing off after Gawyn's death. I'm not quite sure when that ending plan would have gone away.

“I swear I will never wear gray again, Bela,” she told her shaggy mount, patting the mare’s neck. Not that I’ll have much choice once we’re back in the White Tower, she thought. In the Tower, all novices wore white.

And of course she'll soon be wearing the seven-colored stole of the Amyrlin, which represents the Gray Ajah as much as the others.

“Do you wonder how Moiraine is treating Lan?” she asked sweetly, and had a moment of pleasure at the sharp jerk Nynaeve gave her braid.

Egwene thinks that wounding remarks don't come naturally to her, but I don't believe that at all. She's quite sharp-tongued when she wants to be, which is often (she's a Jordan woman after all). That said, I think speaking back to Nynaeve is something newer to her; back in Emond's Field Nynaeve was a respected authority and Egwene's mentor.

Six people, Egwene thought, and how many secrets? They all shared more than one, secrets that would have to be kept, perhaps, even in the White Tower.

Amusingly, one of the secrets in this party that Egwene doesn't know about will be revealed to her much, much later in the Tower.

Nynaeve had always been able to foretell the weather. Listening to the wind, it was called, and the Wisdom of every village was expected to do it, though many really could not. Yet since leaving Emond’s Field, Nynaeve’s ability had grown, or changed. The storms she felt sometimes had to do with men rather than wind, now.

It's rather interesting to me how all the members of the EF5 have their styles of divination (Perrin and Egwene have T'A'R, Mat gets the dice, and Rand has a whole book of prophecies written just about him) and yet they're all very indirect when Elaida-style Foretelling exists. I suppose it's not very dramatic to get prophecies as straightforward as hers was on a regular basis.

She was of the Brown Ajah, and the Brown sisters usually cared more for seeking out knowledge than for anything in the world around them. Egwene was not so sure of Verin’s detachment, though. Verin had put herself hip-deep in the affairs of the world by being with them.

Egwene's ability to see how people don't fit the stereotypes of their affiliation is one of the things that sets her up to be a good leader for the Aes Sedai.

Years of experience seemed to have given him some talent at sniffing out wrongdoers, especially those who had done violence.

Poor Egwene is not actually in the loop about Hurin though. Kinda funny that we can see the truth distorting at a single degree of separation.

Egwene thought he might be uneasy at being alone, for all practical purposes, with an Aes Sedai and three women in training for sisterhood. Some men found facing a fight easier than facing Aes Sedai.

She's not entirely wrong, though her ignorance of his talent means she's not quite understanding his motivation.

“The One Power won’t do you much good if somebody kills you before you can use it,” Hurin said, addressing the tall pommel of his saddle.

Damn Hurin, that's a pretty ballsy thing to say to a bunch of would-be Aes Sedai, even if you can't quite look them in the eyes to say it.

“I wish I had some idea how much she does know. Egwene, I don’t know if my mother could help me if the Amyrlin found out, much less help the pair of you. Or even whether she would try.”

Naturally, Morgase does in fact try to help Elayne when she thinks the Tower is doing her wrong, though she is unable to do much. How much of that is Rahvin's fault I'm not sure.

“I will do what must be done,” Nynaeve said sharply, “if there is anything to be done, and you two will run, if need be. The White Tower may be all abuzz with your potential, but don’t think they will not still you both if the Amyrlin Seat or the Hall of the Tower decides it is necessary.”

The benefit of Nynaeve being unable to be humble is that she treats the other girls as her responsibility and thus would destroy her life for their well-being. Of course, all three of them are being dramatic and would not be remotely in trouble for actual self-defense.

I was Healing before I ever thought of going to Tar Valon, even if I didn’t know I was. But it seems I need my medicines to make it work for me.

Nynaeve has quite a few blocks, doesn't she? I don't quite remember when this one goes away.

“Let me do all the talking, children,” the Aes Sedai said placidly, pushing her cowl back to reveal gray in her hair. Egwene was not sure how old Verin was; she thought old enough to be a grandmother, but the gray streaks were the Aes Sedai’s only signs of age.

At present, Verin is about 150 years old, meaning that she could have a 10 year old great-great-great-great-great-grandchild assuming 20 year generations. She has no children and boy did the White Tower screw themselves over implementing those policies.

“Two Tar Valon witches, unless I miss my guess, yes?” he said with a tight smile that pinched his narrow face.

Dain Bornhald does in fact miss his guess, as he misses most everything.

Verin opened her mouth as if for idle conversation, but before she could speak, Elayne jumped in, voice ringing with command. “I am Elayne, Daughter-Heir of Andor. If you do not move aside at once, you will have Queen Morgase to answer to, Whitecloak!”

This is possibly Elayne's biggest moment of stupidity derived from being a sheltered princess in the whole series. Other moments like the veil are more laughable and of course she makes some other big mistakes at points, but she just went from "unremarkable passerby who was going to be harrassed but unharmed" to "high-priority target" and all because she couldn't obey a simple instruction not to talk.

There’s no more time to wait, Egwene thought. I will not be chained again!

And meanwhile Egwene's trauma is so ingrained that the possibility of violence (the Whitecloaks haven't *actually* done anything yet) immediately sets her off. Poor Egwene.

She fought to keep from being overwhelmed, and focused on the ground in front of the Whitecloak officer’s horse. A small patch of ground; she did not want to kill anyone.

At least she isn't completely gone, because seriously after the Seanchan you'd hardly blame her for still being in "kill kill kill" mode at the moment.

Verin was wide-eyed with astonishment and anger. Her mouth worked furiously, but whatever she might be saying was lost in the thunder.

Verin does not get paid enough for this crap.

“What you have done is an abomination. An abomination! An Aes Sedai does not use the Power as a weapon except against Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme to defend her life. The Three Oaths—”

The Three Oaths don't apply to anyone having this conversation. But this still is slowly setting up the Oaths and the many attitudes that Egwene will have about them going forward. Here they're only an annoyance.

“It . . . it was not really using the Power as a weapon, Verin Sedai.” Elayne held her chin high, but her voice shook. “We did not hurt anyone, or even try to hurt anyone. Surely—”

The scary thing is, this justification, if believed, would let many Aes Sedai sidestep that particular Oath. No wonder Verin tries to shut it down hard.

He was only trying to bully us, child. He knew very well he could not make us go where we did not want, not without more trouble than he was willing to accept. Not here, not in sight of Tar Valon. I could have talked us past him, with a little time and a little patience. Oh, he might well have tried to kill us if he could have done it from hiding, but no Whitecloak with the brains of a goat will try harming an Aes Sedai who knows he is there.

And now, after two books of very straightforward good guys vs bad guys, we finally get some of the complications that will run through the rest of the books. Not in the straightforward shades of gray (the Whitecloaks might not be Darkfriends but they're still dangerous assholes), but through Verin pointing out that they're so utterly outmatched that using the Power against them is just fucked.

“We have come a long way,” Egwene went on, “all the way from Toman Head, and if I weren’t so tired, I would never have—”

Egwene, never content to let someone else be number one, makes a bold play to be the person with the biggest mouth in the party.

“My name is Dain Bornhald! Remember it, Darkfriends! I will make you fear my name! Remember my name!”

None of these people will ever see you again, Dain, let alone have any reason to fear you. Dude is like an angry dog barking at everyone outside the fence

“What did he mean about my mother?” Elayne said suddenly. “He must have been lying. She would never turn against Tar Valon.”

That was before they lost her daughter for four months, Elayne, and also before Gaebril, though really I expect that a normal Morgase would still have had issues with Tar Valon over the incident.

“Now you must truly be on your guard,” Verin told them. “Now the real danger begins.”

Verin's not wrong, since everyone in the White Tower is far more dangerous to the girls than most people outside it. And also the Black Ajah is headquartered here. Not that Verin, the world's least suspicious woman, would know anything about that.

Next time: The chapter that contains our first map of Vagina Island!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #verin mathwin #elayne trakand #mat cauthon #hurin #dain bornhald

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apocalypticavolition · 9 days

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I don't want JK Rowling to suffer. I want her to repent.

Everytime this is reblogged, JK Rowling steps on a lego

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apocalypticavolition · 9 days

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Happy Met Gala all. We're celebrating Quannah Chasinghorse's looks again because it's so good to see another Alaska Native in these spaces

The gown is H&M and the beadwork is by Heather Dickson of Dickson Designs. In keeping with the Garden of Time theme, the ensemble is based around forget-me-nots, the state flower of Alaska.

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apocalypticavolition · 10 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 9: Wolf Dreams

Spoiler alert: Just because he's a good boi does not mean he won't fuck you up if he has to. Also spoiler alert: This post and every other post in this series spoils everything for Wheel of Time ever (even the future, like the second TV show they'll make in the 2050s) so if you don't want to know about those spoilers, don't keep reading!

This chapter has the Dragon's Fang symbol because of Rand's Darkhound solutions.

“I have been expecting you for some time,” she said. “I have not spoken about this before because it was obvious you did not want me to. After tonight, though. . . . What do you want to know?”

Note that this is how she STARTS the conversation, before Perrin even gets a word in. Moiraine has been really trying to respect Perrin's boundaries here (in part because if she trampled over them it would only make him ignore what she has to say) and while of course implict statements from Aes Sedai should never be trusted, it is important that she closes with a statement that both affirms Perrin's agency and all but promises to be helpful. If only she were this good with dealing with Rand.

She said that some who talked to wolves lost themselves, that what was human was swallowed up by wolf. Some. Whether she meant one in ten, or five, or nine, I do not know.

Moiraine is usually pretty good about remembering the whole memory fades spiel, so I think the fact that she's emphasizing the exact words of an unreliable source shows that she very much wants it to be a trustworthy document that shows that Perrin still has a shot. She likes the boy even if he's been annoying lately.

“From what I have read of Aes Sedai who had the Talent called Dreaming, Dreamers sometimes spoke of encountering wolves in their dreams, even wolves that acted as guides. I fear you must learn to be as careful sleeping as waking, if you intend to avoid wolves. If that is what you decide to do.”

This of course must be where the idea of spirit animals and such comes from, more or less. Wolfbrothers, their equivalents if there are any, and the Dreamers who got a taste of the guidance and assumed they were getting the whole thing.

“If I can keep you whole, I will. I promise you that, Perrin. But I will not endanger the struggle against the Shadow. You must know that, too.”

As cold as this is, it's actually a bit of a kindness too: she could obfuscate and let him think he's safe with her entirely, but she won't do that even though it would be better for their relationship on the whole. I suppose in a way, dealing with Perrin on this little stint is how Moiraine learns to deal with Rand better in the next couple books.

“It would not aid you, Perrin. The shielding is for dreams from the outside. The danger in your dreams is within you.”

Are there shields that the One Power can wield to keep Dreamers and similar people from dreaming? I suppose Aran'gar did SOMETHING with the power to fuck with Egwene later, but it's understandable that Moiraine wouldn't know of any equivalent ability when the Tower has no real use for it.

“Hopper?” he said wonderingly. He was sure he knew the wolf whose thoughts he heard. Hopper, who had envied the eagles. “Hopper is dead!”

Speaking of spirit animals, it's time for Perrin to meet his!

A man stood there, blinking at him uncertainly, in strangely cut coat and breeches, the coat flaring over his hips as the bottoms of the breeches flared over his boots. Both were bright yellow, and his boots were only a little paler.

Okay, so this is... Actually I have no idea who this is. Presumably he's an actual nobleman, but from where I couldn't possibly guess except "not Seanchan" since he speaks with a quick accent and "not Illian" since he doesn't be all "do be" about stuff. Does anyone know?

Frozen, Perrin stared at the bloody shape wearing the man’s clothes, screaming and thrashing on the floor. Unbidden, his eyes rose to the pale thing like an empty sack that dangled from the ceiling. Part of it was already absorbed by the black strip, but he had no trouble recognizing a human skin, apparently whole and unbroken.

Well, either this dude was having one hell of a dream on his own (bad luck and not the kind that Perrin proximity causes), T'A'R has an ecosystem we never learn about (unlikely), or dude was just ganked by someone in the Shadow, so I guess that narrows it down a teensy bit.

Even as he recognized her, she lifted her head and looked straight at him. Her eyes widened, in shock, in anger. “You! What are you doing here? How did you—? You’ll ruin things you could not begin to imagine!”

Frankly, even "well obviously Lanfear killed that dude" raises further questions about motive. Perhaps this guy was a Darkfriend somewhere on Rand's path, and by taking him out she's protecting Rand in a plausibly deniable way?

Perrin turned, and Hopper was there, a big gray wolf, grizzled and scarred. “You are dead. I saw you die. I felt you die!”

Perrin buddy, you know you're sleeping. This is like the least remarkable part of your current dream.

The water turned pink as he washed his face. Pink with the blood of that strangely dressed man.

T'A'R is actually really awful when you stop to think about it for a few seconds.

Rand huddled under the trees in the night, watching the heavy-shouldered black dog come nearer his hiding place.

Rand being active at night speaks again to the sleep deprivation he's got to be suffering under. Even when he was on that hellish run with Mat he was able to claim downtime, but not here.

The Power filled him. Something leaped from his outstretched hands; he was not sure what it was. A bar of white light, solid as steel. Liquid fire. For an instant, in the middle of that something, the dog seemed to become transparent, and then it was gone.

Hooray for balefire: cleaner and more effective than nukes! Note Jordan's skill by introducing Rand discovering it randomly in a battle that has no real narrative tension so it's not a cheap victory but still does set things up for Moiraine to use it at the climax of this book to great effect.

He wanted to lie down and die. He wanted Nynaeve to give him some of her medicines, or Moiraine to Heal him, or. . . . Something, anything, to stop the sick feeling that was suffocating him.

When the chips are down, the two ladies Rand always misses most are Nynaeve and Moiraine. Foreshadowing!

Pushing himself away from the tree, he waded a shallow, icy stream, then settled into a steady trot eastward. Cold water filled his boots, and his side hurt, but he ignored both.

So many of Rand's bad habits really start up in these early books, under circumstances where he doesn't have any choice but to embrace them.

Next time: Egwene is ready to have PTSD episodes and chew bubblegum, but bubblegum hasn't been invented yet!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #simion #moiraine damodred #hopper #lanfear #rand al'thor

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apocalypticavolition · 11 days

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reblog and make a wish! this was removed from tumbrl due to “violating one or more of Tumblr’s Community Guidelines”, but since my wish came true the first time, I’m putting it back. :)

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apocalypticavolition · 12 days

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Obviously Gandalf would army crawl over broken glass and razor wire for the chance to troll Pippin. If the One Ring ever got Gandalf, they'd save him by just putting Pippin inside a room you couldn't get into unless you weren't wearing jewelry, and then Gandalf would toss the ring aside so fast it would go into orbit.

(Though uh, is it possible Tolkien just meant "This was a ground floor window, and Gandalf is not in fact climbing ladders or levitating for the sheer joy of fucking with Pippin"?)

Still doing my Fellowship reread, and like...I swear to cow, if this man had been open to editing, we might not have gotten unintentionally comedic scenes like this nonsense:

Gandalf trolling Pippin is clearly played for laughs, but what I'm actually referring to is the logistics of that window placement. Either Gandalf like...idk, army crawled?...across the ground in Rivendell to listen in and wait for Pippin to set him up with a line, or he's awkwardly bent in half, or he's just sitting randomly on the ground. Like...the logistics of this were INSUFFICIENTLY THOUGHT THROUGH for it not to be absolutely ridiculous if you think about it for longer than five seconds.

Also, this man stole Sam's eavesdropping method, and how dare.

#lord of the rings #gandalf #pippin took

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apocalypticavolition · 12 days

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Argh why couldn't I find this yesterday when I needed it

you ever think about how in The Dragon Reborn Perrin and Loial have to go fishing and they suck at it and then Moiraine shows up and flexes her fish catching skills and she is actually laughing out loud when she catches them and she is having such a good time and she's teasing the boys ??? bc i do

(click image for optimal quality ! )

+ bonus bc i couldn’t help myself

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apocalypticavolition · 13 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 8: Jarra

I ordinarily say "Here there be spoilers for the whole Wheel of Time series" because it's a good catch-all, even if I don't regularly discuss stuff beyond the chapter we're in, but hoo boy do I go crazy this time folks so for real, don't keep reading if you don't wanna know.

This chapter begins with a wolf icon because Perrin is going to be meeting another Wolfbrother.

For an instant Perrin’s nose caught another odor, one he could not identify, a faint trail that raised the hair on the back of his neck with its vileness. Then it was gone. But he was sure something had passed that way, something—wrong. He scrubbed at his nose as if to rub away the memory of it.

Perrin is smelling a Grey Man. This shows that Rand's fleeing the camp was absolutely the right call; the boy was perhaps a week away from being found in the camp by a Gray Man if he'd stayed after the battle.

“I beg your pardon, good mistress. You have come far? Have you word of the Great Hunt? The Hunt for the Horn of Valere? Or the false Dragon? It’s said there’s a false Dragon in Tarabon. Or maybe Arad Doman.”

An unappreciated Aes Sedai oath loophole is found in how Lan answers for Moiraine, since he is able to lie freely and pretend that he doesn't know the Hunt is over and the Dragon is real.

Why, we’ve had a lifetime of weddings. A plague of them. All in the last two days. There isn’t a woman old enough to speak the betrothal remains unmarried, not in the whole village, not for a mile in any direction. Why, even Widow Jorath dragged old Banas through the arches, and they’d both sworn they’d never marry again.

I'm really curious as to what all the Wheel is weaving that needs this village's entire future genealogy (and legal inheritance, since Jorath and a few of the other ladies married probably aren't ever going to have kids but now set things up for heirlooms to pass down in certain ways) fixed by Rand. Will little old Jarra become a new Two Rivers, filled with channelers in just a few years with a lot of latent genes lining up properly? Will they produce a bunch of Wolfbrothers instead (they are in Ghaeldan, part of the Kingdom of the West Perrin never got)? Something new?

“That’s very interesting,” Perrin said when Simion paused to yawn again, “but have you seen a young—”

Perrin: I don't like to talk until I've had a second to think things over because I don't want people to think I'm stupid. I'm not stupid.

Also Perrin: Hello random stranger! Want to hear the exact reason I'm in town?

Loial had to duck low under the lintel, and the ceiling inside only cleared his head by a foot. He kept rumbling to himself about not understanding why so few humans remembered the Ogier.

It's because you all have a worse outreach program than the White Tower, which is saying a lot.

Master Harod got to his feet slowly, eyes fastened on Loial, smoothing his apron all the while.

It's not clear if Harod is fat, but given that he doesn't cause any real grief we should assume he's at least pleasantly plump like all the other good innkeepers except... whoever it was I pointed out that was something of an exception. I really need to be better at remembering stuff.

Master Harod began explaining about Ogier, making it sound as if he were quite familiar with them. Most of what Perrin heard before they left the voices behind was wrong. Loial’s ears twitched without stop.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm giving this place a five star review on Trip Advisor.

The man looked at her sharply before answering. Perrin did not think anyone else saw how sharply, in the dimness.

I bet Moiraine and Lan have a pretty good idea, Perrin, though it is odd to have such a strong reaction to such a simple question. Despite his later statement, this is the point where Simion's convinced than Moiraine's an Aes Sedai pursuing Rand (due to her intense interest in the Children), but he doesn't understand why.

Good master, you carry that axe like you know how to use it, but it isn’t so easy to face up to men with swords and armor and all, when all you know how to use is a broom or a hoe.

Perrin doesn't even reflect on this, unaware of how he's changed in this regard. He's way too focused on the supernatural parts of his journey to appreciate that he probably looks like a really scary dude at this point.

All these weddings and Whitecloaks are all very well, but I’d sooner know if Rand stopped here, and which way he went when he left. That smell couldn’t have been him.

I can't even blame Perrin for not understanding that all of this commotion is proof enough because Moiraine has never properly infodumped on ta'veren, Loial-- No, Loial would have told Perrin everything if he'd cared to listen so I can fully blame Perrin. But I'm still not going to, to be nice. He's being a bit of a jerk lately but it's hard to know what you need to take notes on and what you don't when you're running around with two different magical artifacts, the Messiah, and a bunch of characters who match the archetypes of all the fairy tales you've ever known.

“No reason, good master. He was an odd fellow, that’s all. He talked to himself, sometimes, and sometimes he laughed when nobody had said anything. Slept in this very room, last night, or part of it. Woke us all in the middle of the night, yelling. It was just a nightmare, but he wouldn’t stay any longer. Master Harod didn’t make much effort to talk him into it, after all that noise.”

Remember that Perrin and crew have been pursuing Rand for days at this point. Our boy's been in the woods, by himself, and dealing with Ishamael's latest campaign. All of this is clear sleep deprivation and the awkward position of knowing he's the chosen one and thus being able to find random asides much more meaningful than people think.

“I knew it,” Simion said, bouncing on his toes. “I knew she could help as soon as I saw you. Which way? East, good master. East, like the Dark One himself was on his heels. Do you think she’ll help me? Help my brother, that is? Noam’s bad sick, and Mother Roon says she can’t do anything.”

It's gotta be real awkward discussing taint madness with friends and relatives of the victim. Simion's quite relieved by his interpretation of what Perrin said, that they're pursuing Rand to gentle him.

Stupid question! The right question is, what does he mean to do about it?

There you go, Perrin.

“Of course,” the Ogier boomed. Simion gave a start when Loial’s hand swallowed his shoulder. “He will show me my room, and we will talk. Tell me, Simion, what do you know of trees?”

I'd say "Poor Simion, thinking that Loial is about to unleash Ogier violence on him in the most arboreal way possible", but anyone who could look at Loial for more than two seconds and see anything more than the world's most literate teddy bear deserves what they get.

Perrin squared his feet to face the Warder. That was easier than facing Moiraine’s glare. “How could we find out whether he had been here without asking questions? Tell me that. He left last night, if you are interested, heading east. And he was carrying on about somebody following him, trying to kill him.”

Perrin is zigzagging between somewhat wise (Lan is the lesser threat even though it's kinda like choosing between drinking cyanide or rubbing alcohol in practice), and then utterly stupid, not considering that an Aes Sedai would be perfectly skilled in getting the knowledge she wants without saying anything outright at all.

“Perhaps,” Moiraine said. “Perhaps not. No one knows anything about ta’veren as strong as Rand.” For just a moment she sounded vexed at not knowing.

Sorry Moiraine, but Perrin's right to be worried. Rand is going to be easily tracked, not just because of his ta'veren but through other means, and even Ishamael couldn't use the other means, he and the Forsaken are old hands at dealing with Dragon-tier ta'veren because they fought the first one.

Lan caught Moiraine’s eye, and for a moment they stared at one another. The Warder had the air about him of a wolf about to leap. Finally, Moiraine shook her head. “No,” she said.

Everyone needs a friend who is as willing to kill innocent bystanders for your convenience as Lan is for Moiraine. And also as willing to listen to vetoes. That part is crucial.

“He will not die by my actions,” Moiraine said. “But I cannot, and will not, promise that it will always be so. We must find Rand, and I will not fail in that. Is that spoken plainly enough for you?”

How many times in this series does an Aes Sedai offer to speak plainly and in fact plainer still if their words are not sufficient?

Lan nodded reluctantly, then gave Perrin a hard look. “See that you do, blacksmith. If any harm befalls her. . . .” His cold blue eyes finished the promise.

I really need to stop talking about how much I love Lan but I can't and you're all just going to have to live with that. Or stop reading, I guess that's an option too.

Behind those bars, a man lay sprawled on his stomach on the straw-covered floor. He was barefoot, his shirt and breeches ripped as if he had torn at them without knowing how to take them off. There was an odor of unwashed flesh that Perrin thought even Simion and Moiraine must smell.

Frankly Perrin your phrasing makes me think that his odor is "borderline but not actually overpowering", so that's pretty good for Noam's current conditions.

Perrin jerked back as he would have from a fire, sealed himself off. They were not thoughts at all, really, just a chaotic jumble of desires and images, part memory, part yearning. But there was more wolf there than anything else. He put a hand to the wall to steady himself; his knees felt weak.

Noam is... really not well. Even by Wolfbrother standards, I think. I wouldn't be surprised if in addition to his developing powers and the physical abuse we'll learn about in book 13 if he was also getting one of those late twenties mental health crises like schizophrenia. All of that mixed together plus the brief freedom and now imprisonment combines to make the dude we see here, who isn't coherent by either of the mental standards we could judge him by.

At her first step, Noam’s lips peeled back from his teeth, and he began to growl, a rumble that deepened till his whole body quivered. Moiraine ignored it. Still growling, Noam wriggled backwards in the straw as she came closer to him, until he had backed himself into a corner. Or she had backed him.

Moiraine is likely Compelling Noam a little bit as a part of whatever mental delving she's up to.

“Healing is not a simple matter, Simion, and it comes from within as much as from the Healer. There is nothing here that remembers being Noam, nothing that remembers being a man. There are no maps remaining to show him the path back, and nothing left to take that path. Noam is gone, Simion.”

With all the pressures Noam's under, it's no surprise at all that he happily jettisoned all the shitty memories. It is kind of impressive that they're entirely gone though, and again it makes me think that there's a lot more going on in Noam's head than we really get to see in this book or in the one ten books from now.

“He will die in here or out there, Simion. Out there, at least he’ll be free, and as happy as he can be. He is not your brother anymore, but you’re the one who has to decide. You can leave him in here for people to stare at, leave him to stare at the bars of his cage until he pines away. You cannot cage a wolf, Simion, not and expect it to be happy. Or live long.”

Perrin's one of those people who should heed his own advice, as so much of his misery will come from his desperation to cage himself.

“A Darkfriend wouldn’t care if my brother died in a cage. I suppose she found you soon after it happened. In time to help. I wish she’d come to Jarra a few months ago.”

I suppose this is as much as anything why the Wheel made everyone wait out the winter: it's not just making sure Rand only arrives at Tear at the same time as the Aiel do, but about making sure that Perrin frees Boundless so that he will someday pull his head out of his ass. Not that this was Jordan's intention, sadly, but it's nice that Sanderson was able to tie this together.

Next time: T'A'R!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #simion #loial #lan mandragoran #moiraine damodred #boundless

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apocalypticavolition · 13 days

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@checkoutmybookshelf

is this you

Book Holster // Funky Camelot on Etsy

#oh my god

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apocalypticavolition · 14 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 7: The Way Out of the Mountains

People, the fact that I'm using a generic image here is a failure on the part of the fandom. There should be art of this incredibly tiny chapter and its delightful moment! But Google finds nothing. This is outrageous! Great news, everyone! The wonderfully talented @pien-art did in fact make fan art and is even willing to let me use it on my silly little post. My unspoken plans to balefire you all are hereby put on pause. Please go check out their blog for more art!

Also, if you hate spoilers, this whole post is outrageous because I'm going to spoil everything about The Wheel of Time because I can!

This chapter starts with a Flame of Tar Valon icon because Moiraine goes fishing.

Lan spent most of his time scouting their path on his black warhorse, Mandarb, following Rand’s tracks as the rest of them followed the signs the Warder left for them. An arrow of stones laid out on the ground, or one lightly scratched in the rock wall of a forking pass.

Lan and Mandarb get all the more impressive when you consider that in addition to leading the way, he's probably also doubling around them (unnoticed by Perrin) and clearing out the signs he leaves behind so no one else can follow.

Her reply was always very much the same. “If you cannot move any faster than this, perhaps I should send you off to Myrelle before you get any older. Well, perhaps that can wait, but you must move us faster.”

Moiraine, I love you but what the fuck? Lan is doing an incredible job and you're joking about sending him off to get raped because it's not good enough for you.

“No day soon,” Lan said, and surprisingly, there was open anger in his voice. “Never, if I can help it. You will outlive me long, Moiraine Aes Sedai!”

She probably will, but how much longer, I wonder. Did the Finn steal her longevity when they stole her strength, or will she still age according to the power level she was born with? If the former, then she might not even have two centuries of lifespan in her. (Also note how touchy Lan is, to use such a formal address.)

“As difficult as that?” Moiraine murmured. Her hands slipped into the water—and a moment later came out with a splash, holding a fat trout that thrashed the surface. She laughed with delight as she tossed it up onto the bank.

Perrin thinks it's luck because Perrin is very, very silly. Also he doesn't know that she's best friends with a former fisherwoman.

Perrin thought about reminding her that whoever took the fish was supposed to clean them, too, but just at that moment she caught his eye. There was no particular expression on her smooth face, but her dark eyes did not waver, and they appeared to know what he was going to say, and to have dismissed it out of hand already.

Perrin, be grateful that the nice witch caught you a huge dinner. Another problem with not communicating is that of course Moiraine is probably doing useful magic tricks like this all the time with exactly as much fanfare and while effortlessly keeping her composure so Perrin has no idea that as far as the party dynamics are concerned, he and to a lesser degree Loial are the potential dead weight.

“I doubt she sees it that way. First she had to put up with Rand arguing with her all the time, and now you’re ready to take over for him. As a rule, Aes Sedai do not let anyone argue with them. I expect she means to have us back in the habit of doing what she says by the time we reach the first village.”

Loial's probably got a point too about Moiraine's Aes Sedai pride influencing her behavior. She likely strongly feels that she fucked up by giving Rand too much independence (even though really the boy needs as much as he can get) and is aiming for damage control by being extra shitty about things to Lan and Perrin as well.

Loial gave in to it as inevitable, but not Perrin. He tried refusing, resisting, but it was hard to resist when she made a reasonable suggestion, and a small one at that. Only there was always another suggestion behind it, as reasonable and small as the first, and then another. The simple force of her presence, the strength of her gaze, made it difficult to protest.

Perrin is getting worked over like he's saidar and it's a little funny.

He accused her of using the One Power on him, though he did not really think that was it, and she told him not to be a fool.

It is indeed very unlikely that she's Compelling him when she's just so good at social engineering.

The wolves should not have been there. Wolves avoided places where men were, but Perrin could still sense them, an unseen screen and escort ringing the mounted party.

The wolves are of course sticking around because Noam's also in the area.

Short chapter, huh? Next time: Fourteen hundred weddings and no funerals!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #lan mandragoran #moiraine damodred #loial

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apocalypticavolition · 14 days

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There's no babies here so it's impossible for Gollum to have eaten any.

Re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the First Time in Fifteen Years

Hi, Hello, Welcome! The conceit of these posts is pretty self-explanatory. I read the Lord of the Rings for the first time at age 17, in the middle of my parent's divorce (it was messy, we're not going into any details). Needless to say, I remember pretty much nothing about that read, and I would like to give the books a fair shake of a re-read. That's what this is, and there will be spoilers throughout!

I usually do full-book reviews, but if ever I was going to do a chapter-by-chapter re-read, it would be for LotR. The rules are that I'm going in as blind as I possibly can (I have watched the movies and have absorbed like...a reasonable amount of lore from existing on the internet as a millennial) and I'm not doing any research beyond like, defining words for myself as I read. So here we go, and I hope you enjoy rereading with me! Let's talk "The Shadow of the Past."

Good LORD JRR Tolkien can lore dump when he wants to. This chapter was mainly lore dump, which is fine because it was at least interesting lore dump. I'm not a lore girly though, I'm a character girly, so let's go with "we got the One Ring's backstory, now let me talk about other characters because the Ring isn't one just yet."

This is going to sound initially harsh, but it is said with affection: Gandalf is 1000% the pedantic asshole professor who is way too into the Socratic method who you absolutely detest in undergrad but somehow his classes still end up sticking with you more than any other. You then get to understand this prof better as a master's student, and deeply love this prof as a PhD. That's literally the vibe I'm getting from his lecture to Frodo about finding some goddamn pity and compassion for the tragedy that is Smeagol and Gollum. Because it is VERY easy to judge and be critical in the abstract, which Frodo very much is, having never encountered Gollum, and Gandalf has spent time and effort tracking down Gollum with way more background knowledge with which to contextualize the layers of tragedy that Gollum personifies and affects. It's a big ask, to get people to abstract compassion (and do not come in here and argue with me about this, I live in 20-goddam-24, I know what I'm talking about), but Gandalf kind of doesn't let it go with Frodo until Frodo at least softens his position and is open to, if not at, compassion. I've been a student and I've been a teacher, and these conversations are hard from both directions, so kudos to Gandalf for sticking with it, and to Frodo for getting to a place where he was truly listening.

Especially after Gandalf just CASUALLY DROPS that Gollum literally ATE BABIES. I'm not even kidding, he just casually, in the midst of an infodump on Gollum's time tracking Bilbo after losing the Ring, says,

The woodsmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests, it crept into holes to find young, it slipped through windows to find cradles.

AND THEN WE JUST CASUALLY MOVE ON LIKE BABY EATING ISN'T SOMETHING WE NEED TO ADDRESS HERE. I would like to address the baby eating, Gandalf!!!

Despite not addressing the baby eating though, there was some interesting new information in the Gollum infodump that I understand why it got cut from the movies, but I was low-key fascinated. Smeagol was specifically noted to be interested in roots. Gandalf framed that like literal tree and mountain roots, but this is Tolkien we're talking about. Roots have a metric ton of metaphorical meanings too, and the fact that Smeagol was interested in the origins of things, in where they came from, in what made them as they are, is both deeply ironic and deeply interesting. I kind of hope we do more with that, since becoming Gollum is like ouroborosing roots; Smeagol's interest in Gollum is deeply self-reflexive, which might also be how we end up with that bifurcated personality thing. I dunno, but that would be really cool to follow up on.

I also deeply appreciated Frodo's "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK" reaction to realizing that Gandalf had let him keep the One Ring for so long. Notably, Gandalf kind of doesn't explicitly apologize for putting Frodo at risk, but he does acknowledge that yes, yes he made a choice, took a risk, and put Frodo in some level of danger. I suppose we'll take it, even as we acknowledge that yes, Gandalf was working with imperfect, incomplete information. We do the best we can with what we know at the time, or something. And if it took 20-odd years to figure all of this out (which makes sense for the kind of field and archival work required here), then y'know what, better late than never.

That said, Gandalf also kind of...LIGHTLY SKATES OVER the fact that even just possessing the Ring and doing nothing with it for 20 years has affected Frodo. He's not aging. He can't cast it away. He's already caught. Right at the beginning, in CHAPTER TWO of this massive trilogy, it's not a matter of preventing Frodo from being caught by the ring. It's a matter of how long Frodo can resist. He was doomed before anyone knew, concretely, that there was a problem. And jaysus, if that isn't how you tee up a tragedy, I don't even know how you do that. Maybe there wasn't a good reason for Gandalf to say that to Frodo, maybe it would have hurt more than it helped, but I do kind of think PERHAPS YOU MIGHT POINT THIS OUT???

I get the sense that I'm going to be very back-and-forth on book Gandalf...this is going to be an interesting thing to watch develop as I keep reading.

In addition to Gandalf's "Backstory Via The Socratic Method 101" course, we also get some additional Samwise Gamgee in this chapter. Saying "I adore this hobbit and he should be protected at all costs" is not new or even interesting, so let's take a different tack. In the films, Sam's excitement for going to see the elves is...ungrounded. It's a thing about him that we just accept. I deeply relate to and adore the sense we get of why and how the elves thing comes about in the book:

He believed he had once seen and Elf in the woods, and still hoped to see more one day. Of all the legends that he had heard in his early years such fragments of tales and half-remembered stories about the Elves as the hobbits knew, had always moved him most deeply.

This might seem ungrounded, but it's deeply aware of how stories work. Sam knows that the hobbits don't have the extent of Elven lore that exists, but he knows that there is a magic and a power in even the fragments they have, and that captured his imagination to such an extent that a yearning to see, to understand, to know that magic, was born in his heart. That grounds Sam in stories just as much as Frodo is grounded in stories, and more than that, Sam WANTS the magic to be real in a way that Frodo, primed on all the tragedy by Gandalf, I don't actually think does. Frodo is "I wish it need not have happened in my time," but Sam is "Me go and see the Elves and all."

That "and all" at the end is particularly poignant, because if Sam knows some of the stories of the elves, I have to imagine a few tragic tales survived along with the magical ones, so Sam isn't going starry-eyed into this as a bumblefuck gardener from nowhere. There's an acceptance there of the magic that encompasses all that magic offers, both good and bad. Yeah, I'm probably over-reading into this, but I support it at least a little with the fact that at the beginning of the chapter, we're with Sam when the hobbits down the pub are talking about strange beings and creatures and *foreshadowing the ents*. Sam knows that the stories tell of more than just elves, but for him, that wonder is enough to warrant everything else. No, I am not taking criticism (constructive or otherwise) at this time.

Other than a wee shoutout to the legendary "Mad Baggins"--and let's be real, if history must become myth and myth must become legend, I want Mad Baggins to stay alive and not be forgotten--that's about all I have for this chapter. Professor Gandalf shows up to school Frodo and kick his ass out the door, and Sam gets to go see the elves. We'll pick up again next time with chapter 3.

#the lord of the rings #the fellowship of the ring #reread

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apocalypticavolition · 16 days

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Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 6: The Hunt Begins

Another day, another chapter. Don't read if you don't want spoilers for literally everything that has ever or will ever happen (in The Wheel of Time).

This chapter has a Wheel icon now that Rand's embraced his destiny and ditched the party - and because Perrin will be embracing his as well.

“Rand is gone,” was all Lan said before he left at a run, but it was more than enough.

When Lan's hustling, you know hell is breaking loose.

“You’re from his village,” Masema said hoarsely. “You must know. Why did the Lord Dragon abandon us? What sin did we commit?”

You didn't kill those Shadowspawn quickly enough, Masema. Rand only hangs out with people whose DPS is in the three digits.

Min sat cross-legged on the dirt floor beside the door that led to Moiraine’s room, while the Aes Sedai paced back and forth in thought. Dark thoughts, they must have been. Three paces each way was all she had, but she made vigorous use of the space, the calm on her face belied by the quickness of her step.

Moiraine has got to be really tired of Rand going off her script, since she still has not learned that she does not get to direct the plot.

He made himself meet her look with one just as level and firm. It was not easy. He loomed over her, but she was Aes Sedai. “Is this of your making, Moiraine? Did you rein him in until he was so impatient he’d go anywhere, do anything, just to stop sitting still?”

Perrin is being extra petty here considering he understands her state of mind at this state of affairs just fine.

What I do, I do because there is no other way. He is hunting me again, and this time one of us has to die, I think. There is no need for those around me to die, also. Too many have died for me already. I do not want to die either, and will not, if I can manage it. There are lies in dreams, and death, but dreams hold truth, too.

Perrin is right though that Moiraine's holding Rand in place is why he's snapped so hard from the dream pressure, though in her defense she probably was not remotely aware of the level of influence that the Forsaken were wielding because the boys never tell her anything. Already we can see how the distrust among the light side is causing them problems.

“I’ll go easy when she answers me. Well, Moiraine?” “He is what he is,” she said sharply.

You can't blame Perrin for not trusting Moiraine for refusing to communicate openly with him, and you can't blame Moiraine for being pissed that she's still being treated with outright hostility when she's shown she's firmly on their side. That said, it is Moiraine who needs to change more, because the Aes Sedai attitude contributes nothing to the proceedings.

The seals are weakening, Perrin. Some are broken, though the world does not know that. Must not know that. The Father of Lies is not free. Yet. But as the seals weaken, more and more, which of the Forsaken may be loosed already? Lanfear? Sammael? Asmodean, or Be’lal, or Ravhin? Ishamael himself, the Betrayer of Hope? They were thirteen altogether, Perrin, and bound in the sealing, not in the prison that holds the Dark One. Thirteen of the most powerful Aes Sedai of the Age of Legends, the weakest of them stronger than the ten strongest Aes Sedai living today, the most ignorant with all the knowledge of the Age of Legends. And every man and woman of them gave up the Light and dedicated their souls to the Shadow. What if they are free, and out there waiting for him? I will not let them have him.”

And Perrin, for his part, needs to appreciate when Moiraine is being relatively open. It makes sense that she's frozen up a bit in fear of the Forsaken being loose, especially since she doesn't know that Rand's already been grappling with Ish or Lanfear. Sadly, Perrin's not really ready for the full understanding of what the Last Battle being upon them.

He looked at the others—they were all watching him fixedly, even Min—then hesitantly told of the one dream that seemed unusual to him, the dream that came every night. The dream of the sword he could not touch. He did not mention the wolf that had appeared in the last.

Note as well that where Moiraine's open caginess causes problems with everyone because they know they can't trust her, she's constantly getting surprised by their quiet caginess. Some real hypocrisy by the boys.

“My dreams are always the same, Moiraine Sedai. The groves, and the Great Trees, and the stedding. We Ogier always dream of the stedding when we are away from them.”

I wonder if they're true dreams in T'A'R and if perhaps humans who get too far away from the Earth have similar dreams.

What does it mean that he ‘shall slay his people with the sword of peace, and destroy them with the leaf’? What does it meant that he ‘shall bind the nine moons to serve him’? Yet these are given equal weight with Callandor in the Cycle. There are others. What ‘wounds of madness and cutting of hope’ has he healed? What chains has he broken, and who put into chains?

These are much more straightforward prophecies to intrepret than some, at least, referring as they do to the Aiel, binding the Seanchan to the peace, the cleansing of saidin, and the general societal upheavals he brings about.

Perrin grunted softly. The Stone would never fall till the Dragon Reborn held Callandor. How in the Light is he supposed to reach it—inside a bloody fortress!—before the fortress falls? It is madness!

Even ignoring the "sneak in" approach that Rand ultimately takes, it's not like he couldn't just get hired as a guard or servant who works there and find his way to Callandor. The people in-universe treat this sequence of events like it's a lot more paradoxical than it really is.

Especially on those who are—susceptible. I do not believe Rand did it on purpose, but the dreams of those touching the True Source can be powerful. For one as strong as he, they could possibly seize an entire village, or perhaps even a city. He knows little of what he does, and even less of how to control it.”

I guess this is a better explanation than wolf dream, considering that half the Shienarians have it. One wonders why Min was exempt though, besides the plot contrivance that she'd definitely have told Moiraine after the second night.

“There’s always something new from you,” Perrin growled. “Can’t you tell us what to expect once in a while, instead of explaining after it happens?” Uno looked as though he was trying to think of a reason to leave.

Uno wishes he had a pipe to study.

Lan looked at Uno, and the one-eyed man shrugged in dismay. “I bloody forgot, with all this flaming talk about bloo—” He cleared his throat, shooting a glance at Moiraine. She looked back expectantly, and he went on.

Uno should be allowed to swear more.

“Watch your tongue, blacksmith,” Lan growled, all ice and stone.

I'm glad someone will call out Perrin on his bullshit a bit because he's being very annoying at this point. You'd think Min at least would speak up.

Few women seek audiences with the Amyrlin herself, but it does happen, and it should occasion no great comment.

Moiraine, have you forgotten that folks already know who Min is? Ms. Unknown Power coming back after having disappeared with three runaways and making a request few women do will be all over the Tower within half an hour of her walking through the city gates AND SHE WON'T HAVE EVEN HAD TIME TO GET TO THE TOWER BY THAT POINT.

Once outside, Min hung back for a moment to address Lan with a too-sweet smile. “And is there any message you want carried? To Nynaeve, perhaps?”

Min, I know you're pissed at Moiraine, but don't take it out on Lan. He's relatively innocent.

Loial shook his head. “I think she asked because she knew what we would answer, Min. Moiraine seems able to read Perrin and me; she knows what we’ll do. But you are a closed book to her.”

Min getting constant supernatural intervention does make her harder to predict, it's true.

“Don’t be more thickheaded than you have to be, Perrin. Back there, right after you said you’d go. They were not there before. They must have to do with this journey. Or at least with you deciding to go.”

The question is, does the Pattern allow him to not go (and thus... end up at Two Rivers early and have to deal with the Whitecloaks stuff solo), or does the Pattern only give him the chance to go willingly and it's still going to drag him along regardless, just in a much more humiliating fashion?

“An Aielman in a cage,” she said promptly. “A Tuatha’an with a sword. A falcon and a hawk, perching on your shoulders. Both female, I think. And all the rest, of course. What is always there. Darkness swirling ’round you, and—”

The former, then. If Perrin hadn't gone with Moiraine, he'd either never meet Gaul, Aram, Faile or Berelain or at least wouldn't have them relevant in his life until later. Thank you Min, for having such easy visions for a change.

“One more thing,” she said slowly. “If you meet a woman—the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen—run!”

Perrin won't, of course. I wonder what encounter with Lanfear Jordan must have had in mind.

Perrin did not like jumping to conclusions—it was one of the reasons some people thought him slow-witted—but he totaled up a number of things Min had said in the last few days and came to a startling conclusion.

His conclusion is that Min is in love with him. Perrin, to think you were slow-witted would imply you had wits at all. You take five days to come to the least plausible conclusion.

“I’m bound to him as surely as a stave is bound to the barrel. But I can’t see if he’ll ever love me in return. And I am not the only one.”

Of course, Min doesn't seem to realize that Rand definitely has the hots for her, so Perrin still isn't the stupidest person in this conversation. Perrin Aybara for Two Rivers King! Most Competent Man in the West! (By Default)

“If there’s no safety in Tar Valon, there’s no safety anywhere.”

Now you're getting it!

Next time: We finally get this show on the road.

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #perrin aybara #lan al'mandragoran #masema dagar #loial #min farshaw #moiraine damodred #uno nomesta

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