#mat cauthon/rand al’thor

[satashiiwrites]

Last line meme

I’ve been plinking away at this instead of packing my suitcase (which I REALLY need to do tonight).  Tagged by the wonderful @quietborderline and tagging the usual crew: @radio-chatter @bwtch @muffinsandsweets @missanniewhimsy @outtoshatter @tkwritesdumbassassins @monsterrae1 @elisela​ and anyone else who wants to play along. No pressure as always. 

From Promise Me You Won’t Let Me. Rand al’Thor/Matrim Cauthon, Wheel of Time.  I swear I’m trying to finish it before season 2 gets released. 

“All men who channel—they go mad eventually and kill everyone and everything that they love.” Rand knew what he had to ask—needed Moiraine to do this for him.  “Do me a favor?  Tell them that I died here.”

[toastandjamie]

I would usually consider myself Mat Cauthon’s #1 defender and fan but then I remember Rand exists and I realize I’m a distant second place.

Tuon told him about how Mat literally kidnapped her and he straight up went “oh well, you probably deserved it. I’m sure he had a reason.”

Rand looks at Mat and goes “he’s just a silly little fella :)” and ignores all his crimes. Mat could stab someone out of nowhere and Rand’s first question would be “Mat! Are you hurt?” And the second “what did that guy do to you?”

[theoraclej]

THAT SEASON FINALE!

light, where to begin, a disjointed ramble of things I observed:

Dovie’andi se tovya sagain! - Mat said the words, he said the words!

And he made his own ashandarei! I hope he gets the raven-inlaid one though because I’m sure no one wants him running around with that dagger

And I know he’s going to get a massive S3 glow-up because he sees himself as MORE, now. Yay Mat!

RAND exploding the shit out of the Seanchan including Turak; nice way around his general lack of swordtraining which I’m sure will be remedied

Once the Heron, to set his path!

The interplay between Rand (and Lews Therin before him), Lanfear, Ishamael - they were besties in the Age of Legends, lmao!

I had expected the intro to be a high society polyam party they were attending, not the Sealing of Ishamael, 🤭

The Warder bond was beautiful, flowing, intimate, just what I imagined when reading these books some 25 years ago

I knew Moiraine was gonna say Lan was her better!

I’m so glad they’re back together though, legendary qpp

Nice to see the S1 intro sequence with the gorgeously woven Aes Sedai tapestry

I was a bit sad Nynaeve didn’t heal Elayne OR Rand but she DID swear to make Seta’s mother curse the first kiss her father ever gave her and THAT was cool

Hopper, my beloved! 😩 I would be chopping Whitecloaks too!

It was so satisfying to see Perrin obey his wolfly instincts already!

Elayne being the one to heal Rand’s wound was an interesting choice, and you can tell he was dazzled by her!

Book lines, book lines, book lines making me have conniptions every time one was uttered

“From birth to death I serve the Blood.”

UNO I KNEW YOU WERE COMING YA SHEEP-GUTTED MILK DRINKER

“For the Light, and Shinowa!” still gave me chills even without an expanded story behind it for Ingtar

Egwene al’Vere. I hope she earns a title of “the Unbroken” someday. Remember, Nynaeve even said that about her when Egwene was captured by Whitecloaks in S1!

Egwene, spitting out the damane gag and refusing to rain down fire on innocents, ah my girl, that’s that Two Rivers steel

Egwene, collaring Renna and choking her to death, being stronger than Renna, being able to withstand the pain of that because that’s exactly what Renna taught her

Egwene later, with that amazing shield against Ishamael to protect her friends!

Lanfear pushing Lan and Moiraine out of the ocean Waygate was very unexpected but totally within Lanfear’s lane, just to keep Moiraine away from Rand

Lanfear working to sell the Seals to Bayle Domon, which was so lmao also, and it really enhanced her utter shock when she entered the room later with the Seals all broken.

M O G H E D I E N 🕷️

She is perfectly creepy, perfect in every way. I can’t wait to see her tear shit up, or to see how she will be used in S3 and beyond

Never expected her to cage Lanfear in her webs, either, dang. Lillen Moiral wasn’t near so strong as Mierin. But we know some things are just Talents, and Moghedien is better in Tel’aran’rhiod than Lanfear

Did you notice Rand’s wound swirling with evil bits throughout the healed part? Really cool effect if you catch it

Aviendha, Bain, and Chiad showing they can fight just as well in close quarters in a city as in the Three-Fold Land; and then later acknowledging Rand as Car’a’carn

Though I’d hoped we’d get some good old He Who Comes With The Dawn in here too

Moiraine’s outstanding torpedo weaves that fucked up the Seanchan boats! And she understands the stakes - if the Dragon is gentled, or harmed, or captured, everyone’s life is in danger and that includes her and Lan

Anyhow fuck the Seanchan

Did it look like Suroth got blown up too? Does that mean she’s dead? I guess we’ll see who gathers in the scattered remnants of the Hailene!

The first “I’m not Lews Therin” from Rand

Mat taking a moment to mention Rand’s “shit hair” to Perrin while they were in the mix, lmao

That shadow ashandarei is really scary, it is a laser knife (lightsaber?) on a stick

I can’t wait for Perrin and Hopper to meet again in the Wolfdream

Speaking of which, I think Perrin’s eyes are permanently golden now

I cried at the coming of the Heroes of the Horn, I’m sure many of you did too 😭

Cool Hero fighting effects, I liked those

BIRGITTE SILVERBOW MY LOVELY

I figured Min’s vision of Mat “killing” Rand would be something like this, an accident, not an intentional thing

His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul…

AL’LAN MANDRAGORAN, the Uncrowned King, Sworn to the Flame, bonded again, fighting as he was meant to, just slicing through armies, snatching arrows out of the air and stabbing people with them, chef’s kiss

I wonder if Nynaeve’s “failures” and inability to channel at these vital moments will give her the drive to break her block

Ishamael’s channeling at the end was really impressive, a testament to how much more he knows than Rand

I hope that’s not the last we see of Fares Fares, he was remarkable as Ishamael and a truly enjoyable villain

And since they didn’t have the Dragon banner of Lews Therin Telamon found with the Horn like in the books, Moiraine saw to it that he was heralded with literal fire

This I can imagine many people seeing from far away, and of course rumor travels further

The Falmen sure seem to appreciate it and of course the Seanchan are gone for now

Lanfear asking the LIGHT to protect Rand at the end is something interesting and NOT LOST ON ME

I REALLY ENJOYED IT and am looking forward to a full rewatch of S1 and S2!

Proclaimed across the sky in fire 🔥🐲

[eyepatchcrow]

the inherent homoeroticism of abandoning your boy for a second time, only this time it’s because you love him and want to protect him, but you can’t tell him that so you have to let him think you’ve turned your back on him again

[amyrlinegwene]

I love the look in Mat’s eyes when he realizes that Rand did the exact thing (but worse) he’s been beating himself up over for months. All this time he thought that he was horrible for leaving his friends that Rand would never do that, only to find out that Rand did that and he let them all think that he’s dead. That they’re the same.

[mashithamel]

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

Ok, the phrase "I'd bet against Mat himself", coming from Rand and being spoken to Perrin, was actually pretty funny. It's good to know that even in the days before Tarmon Gaiden Rand still has a sense of humor.

[geryrrs]

Josha Stradowski as Rand al’Thor and Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon.

The Wheel of Time 1.04 “The Dragon Reborn”

[asongofstarkandtargaryen]

Mat even under the influence of the dagger when he's at his lowest, he still want to help his friends.

Look how he reacts to Rand saying that he's gonna rescue Egwene from being damane:

And when Rand counterpoints that Mat needs to go to Tar Valon to be healed asap and that he has no time to waste, Mat snaps that saving Egwene isn't a waste of time.

This goes to all those who criticize Mat that he only cares about himself on the first two books. Even under an evil influence, he can't just stop caring because that's who he is.

[the-best-bibliophile]

Pairing Wheel of Time characters with Taylor Swift albums

(Which are their favorites)

Rand: tells everyone reputation is his favorite but is secretly a Midnights girlie. That man is so depressed and he cries to you’re on your own kid every single night.

Egwene: starts out with Fearless but gradually gets to love reputation. Let that girl go off!!

Mat: He strikes me as liking Red I think. He feels strongly and fiercely and I think the vibes are right.

Perrin: folklore and evermore. A tie for both albums. He just wants to live a quiet life. Peace and Love for that man and his wolves.

Nyneave: secretly loves Fearless. She tries to be all aloof but she’ll listen to Fearless for hours. Makes her think of Lan.

Moiraine: does not listen to Taylor Swift I think.

[satashiiwrites]

Promise Me You Won’t Let Me, V. Mat

Instead of Six Sentences or Snippet Sunday we’re going with posting a long overdue chapter. Thanks for the tags lovlies and tagging back anyone who’d like to play along on today’s six sentence Sunday.

Title: Promise Me You Won’t Let Me, Chapter V. Mat

Fandom: Wheel of Time

Pairing: Mat Cauthon/Rand al’Thor, prior Rand al’Thor/Egwene al’Mera

Fic Summary:

Mat can feel that his time is limited but he’s got one thing he needs to do before he lets the darkness that is eating him bit by bit take him. Rand is desperate to help his best friend who is fading right before his eyes—he’s been cut off from everything else but he can’t lose Mat.

The wheel may weave as it wills and sometimes two threads become tangled and inseparable. Or maybe they were always meant to twine together to make a new pattern.

Chapter Summary: 

Momentarily better, Mat takes advantage to clean up a bit.

Read it here on AO3

[matcauth0n]

Okay but imagine how much better Mat would’ve been instead of Min during Rand’s ‘I Don’t Trust A Single Person’ Darth Rand phase. Like, Min is out here listening to Cadsuane, trying to help and losing Rand’s trust because of it. If it was Mat? Cadsuane would subtly approach him to get him to talk sense into Rand and suddenly throughout the camp you’d hear “BLOOD AND BLOODY ASHES, WOMAN, YOU THINK I’D TRUST AN AES SEDAI??? LEAVE ME OUT OF IT!!” & he’d come back to Rand grumbling about her trying to manipulate him.

Then Rand, who hasn’t smiled in ten thousand years, would laugh because he knows Mat is the one person in the world who the Aes Sedai can’t reach him through.

[spectrum-color]

Thinking about how the main trios in Wheel of Time are gender swapped foils for each other

Rand and Egwene-Main Character Energy, leadership focused arcs, tasked with reforming broken systems, go through a life changing trauma that follows them for the rest of the story (the box and the collar,) powerful channelers

Mat and Elayne-Chaotic energy, the fun one of their respective trios, always ending up in dangerous situations, somehow both run away with the circus at separate times

Perrin and Nynaeve-Clearly an attempt at the “mom friend” and “dad friend” archetype, but while it works with Nynaeve for me at least it doesn’t with Perrin

[eyepatchcrow]

[wheeloftimecentral]