#shaidar haran

[farmergilesofham]

On Halfmen

So, Myrddraal.

The way they're technically described in the books is as 'eyeless' in the sense of 'there is naught but skin over where eyes should be', but I don't like that.

Don't get me wrong, in the 90s that was a (reasonably) novel monster look, but nowadays it's been done to death and back - and besides that, even with the mentions of "pale skin where eyes should be", it is not what I imagined the first two times I read the series.

The Fades/Myrddraal/Halfmen/Eyeless/Lurks/Fetches/Nightrunners were made through human experimentation using the extra-dimensional magic of the Dark One, and it would be far more fitting if they more obviously looked like tortured corpses - grim, yes, but accurate to the books (Lan says at some point that in making Fades, the human strain and Dark One's magic are both made stronger).

The way I imagined them then, and belligerently continue to imagine them now, is as otherwise-ordinary-looking humans, with the signature waxy skin, but with tar-spattered hollows where eyes once were. It adds, in my opinion, to the body horror of the Wheel of Time when the monsters don't just look like generic monsters: looked at intently for a few moments they, instead, begin to look a bit too human. Also, a bit easier on anyone trying to adapt them to screen.

The same goes for Daghkar - they're often shown in art as these quasi-vampiric creatures, but I always saw them as oversized, pale dimorphodon/toothed pterosaur looking things, except that they look more like something out of All Tomorrows, as the only genetic material being used to make them was that of regular humans.

Trollocs are already described as well as they could be, with their grotesque, twisted features framing too-human eyes and their animal calls being twinged with the flavour of a human scream.

As for Shaidar Haran, I thought it would be extra neat if, on top of just being a Very Tall Halfman, it also had tiny points of white light fixed just in front of the ruined eye sockets, never moving in any expressive manner in order to highlight that yeah, those probably aren't eyes the way we understand them.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Prologue: In the Shadow

Well I said I might read something else before this book but apparently not. One of these days maybe. Welcome back to my reread, welcome back to the usual spiel about how I delight in spoilering everything I possibly can in this franchise. The last word in the last book is "Time", suckers!

Anyway, this book takes us firmly out of the realm of ripping off Lord of the Rings and into the horrifying realms of theoretical physics and colonialism. Exciting stuff, but that doesn't mean everything is different. The prologue's chapter icon is another wheel-and-serpent, reflecting just how important to the Pattern (and the fandom) the Darkfriend Social is.

A hundred black masks, and a hundred pairs of eyes trying to see what lay behind them.

Right away TGH jumps us into the paranoia that Darkfriends present and brings us the important thesis point about the Shadow the series wants to make: the very principals which make them temporarily effective against the Light make them unable to rely upon each other.

The fireplaces were cold, for one thing. Flames danced on logs as thick as a man’s leg, but gave no heat. The walls behind the tapestries, the ceiling high above the lamps, were undressed stone, almost black. There were no windows, and only two doorways, one at either end of the room. It was as if someone had intended to give the semblance of a palace reception chamber but had not cared enough to bother with more than the outline and a few touches for detail.

It is as if that because it is exactly that! Ish has done the bare minimum to keep his guests from losing their minds in the ways he hoped the ta'veren would. Considering the illusions that the other competent dreamers are capable of making, I suspect that Ish's inability to create anything comfortable even when it's to his own advantage is a big part of the failings of his worldview.

Servants circulated through the guests, slender, golden-haired youths proffering wine with a bow and a wordless smile. Young men and young women alike, they wore tight white breeches and flowing white shirts. And male and female alike, they moved with disturbing grace.

The zomaran manage to be one of the more unsettling kinds of Shadowspawn despite the fact that they're almost harmless. About the only thing that doesn't make sense is that Aginor doesn't seem to have included a way for at least him to get the secrets out of them. But then, we're about to see that Jordan hadn't quite figured out their deal yet at this point.

It was not what had been done to the girl that chilled him. Rather, every time he thought he detected a weakness in those he now served, he found himself preceded, the supposed weakness cut out with a ruthless precision that left him amazed. And worried. The first rule of his life had always been to search for weakness, for every weakness was a chink where he could probe and pry and influence. If his current masters, his masters for the moment, had no weakness. . . .

Bors of course has no conception of the idea that the Forsaken have plenty of weaknesses but are experts in protecting themselves from Darkfriends. Finding a way to tear them down is much easier for a good person.

A man in a high-collared, sky-blue Shienaran coat passed him with a wary, head-to-toe glance through the eyeholes of his mask. The man’s carriage named him soldier; the set of his shoulders, the way his gaze never rested in one place for long, and the way his hand seemed ready to dart for a sword that was not there, all proclaimed it. The Shienaran wasted little time on the man who called himself Bors; stooped shoulders and a bent back held no threat.

And here's Ingtar! Dude is probably spoiling for a fight and wishing he could get into one without getting in trouble to make up for not getting to be in the epic battle a few months ago.

He could read them all, to class and country. Merchant and warrior, commoner and noble. From Kandor and Cairhien, Saldaea and Ghealdan. From every nation and nearly every people. His nose wrinkled in sudden disgust. Even a Tinker, in bright green breeches and a virulent yellow coat. We can do without those come the Day.

Very realistic that the Nazis at the Nazi Party are already thinking about offing the Jewish Nazis present.

This sequence is a bit similar to the investigations in the next book, where Elayne points out that the 13 Black Ajah members they know about having virtually nothing in common suggests on a statistical level that there must be hundreds more in reserve who would have overlaps: if the hundred here are so diverse, there must be thousands more.

Suddenly his eyes narrowed, fixing on a woman enveloped in black till nothing showed but her fingers. On her right hand rested a gold ring in the shape of a serpent eating its own tail. Aes Sedai, or at least a woman trained in Tar Valon by Aes Sedai. None else would wear that ring. Either way made no difference to him. He looked away before she could notice his watching, and almost immediately he spotted another woman swathed from head to toe in black and wearing a Great Serpent ring. The two witches gave no sign that they knew each other.

It's less distinctive, but one of these two women is Liandrin - and this of course is a huge hint as to what part of the world "Bors" comes from because only a certain class of people have that feeling about the Aes Sedai.

A Myrddraal stepped between them, and they fell to their knees. It was garbed in black that made the Trollocs’ mail and the humans’ masks seem bright, garments that hung still, without a ripple, as it moved with a viper’s grace.

This chapter is a real collection of introductions to bad guys because this is actually Shaidar Haran, apparently! Wouldn't have expected that myself but hey. Specifically, he's an early iteration, probably much more limited than the later avatar would be because only one of the seals is broken.

“The Great Lord of the Dark is my Master, and most heartily do I serve him to the last shred of my very soul.” In the back of his mind a voice chattered with fear. The Dark One and all the Forsaken are bound. . . . Shivering, he forced it to silence. He had abandoned that voice long since.

No one is so far gone... Bors is meant to be our viewpoint into the usual Darkfriend. He's not a sociopath or anything like it, he doesn't have a Freudian excuse, he's just this guy who clearly wanted power on the quick and took the Darkfriend shortcut. It shouldn't have been a big deal - people have been serving the Dark for the last two thousand years without being asked anything in particular except advancing the interests of other Darkfriends - but now the big debts are being called in. He doesn't like the Shadow when he gets a good look at it, but he's way too self-interested to try and get out now. The Wheel of Time might be a story about the epic battle between good and evil, but it's not ignorant of nuance or shades of gray - but they're not where the main heroes or main villains are. It's bad guys like Bors and Ingtar, and the "good guys" like Elaida and Niall where it all lies.

Would the Great Lord of the Dark appear to them as a man? And masked, besides? Yet the Myrddraal, its very gaze fear, trembled and almost cowered where it stood in the figure’s shadow. The man who called himself Bors grasped for an answer his mind could contain without splitting. One of the Forsaken, perhaps.

The actual protagonist: Scary dude with the eyes who I just one-shotted is the Dark One. War's over guys! Don't wait for the sequel!

Some random Darkfriend: I don't wanna live in a Lovecraft novel so clearly this dude is a Forsaken.

I swear it's like the second Rand couldn't deny being a channeler anymore he decided to just shift his denial onto the next best thing when literal incompetent morons can cotton onto the truth in five seconds. (Yes, yes, Bors is actually very good at the Sherlock Scan but dude is still not good at any of his jobs.)

The man who called himself Bors scrambled up awkwardly, but halfway to his feet, he hesitated. Those gesturing hands were horribly burned, crisscrossed by black fissures, the raw flesh between as red as the figure’s robes. Would the Dark One appear so? Or even one of the Forsaken? The eyeholes of that blood-red mask swept slowly across him, and he straightened hastily. He thought he could feel the heat of an open furnace in that gaze.

Note that while Ish survived Rand's attack on him last book, he was not able to fully heal himself from the damage - or perhaps was not allowed to, but either way. Rand's made some noteworthy progress and the Forsaken are not infinitely regenerating demons.

“The place where you stand lies in the shadow of Shayol Ghul.” More than one voice moaned at that; the man who called himself Bors was not sure his own was not among them.

Again: most of the rank-and-file Darkfriends aren't actually evil. They're unquestionably bad people (and there's some low ranking folk who are just terrifying; this isn't an absolute), but given a taste of what evil actually has to offer, they don't like it! The Shadow is self-defeating because it strips away the nuanced experience of life and leaves no pleasure or cooperation in its midst. Jordan was setting this kind of stuff up this early on.

Soon the Wheel of Time will be broken. Soon the Great Serpent will die, and with the power of that death, the death of Time itself, your Master will remake the world in his own image for this Age and for all Ages to come. And those who serve me, faithful and steadfast, will sit at my feet above the stars in the sky and rule the world of men forever. So have I promised, and so shall it be, without end. You shall live and rule forever.

No one in the room is suspicious about promises coming from someone who calls himself Father of Lies because they're all so very, very dumb.

“The Dragon Reborn! We are to kill him, Great Lord?” That from the Shienaran, hand grasping eagerly at his side where his sword would hang.

"He's three doors down from my apartment, I can stab him in the face as soon as you have me out of here!" Thank goodness Weiramon will eventually take over the role of preposterously enthusiastic Darkfriend, because of course Ingtar won't be fulfilling this role for much longer. (And while it's not confirmed, since Weiramon is the only High Lord Darkfriend we know of, it's almost certain that he's the guy at this meeting.)

The man who called himself Bors blinked. In this Age or another? I thought the Day of Return was near. What matter to me what happens in another Age if I grow old and die waiting in this one?

Bors is just on fire with the cutting right through the bullshit that consumes major characters. Ishamael is all, "He'll fall eventually and I'll totally be there because I said so!" and Bors is not having it because he knows he'll drop dead eventually and then it won't matter anymore.

The man of the Atha’an Miere, the Sea Folk, stiffening with reluctance as he nodded. The Shienaran, his stance bespeaking confusion even while he acquiesced. The second woman of Tar Valon giving a start, as of shock, and the gray-swathed figure whose sex he could not determine shaking its head before falling to its knees and nodding vigorously.

Really, you gotta wonder what possible instructions Ish could be giving to all of these people. Ingtar's we see shortly and likewise Liandrin's are easy to guess because of what she gets up to going forward, but not the other Aes Sedai (could it be Alviarin? On the one hand, she is very important, on the other, having both women being given instructions here go to Shienar plus Ingtar might be overkill?). The Illianer noblewoman who gets her job before this quote, plus the Atha'an Miere guy and the diversity win nonbinary person don't cross paths with our heroes, as far as we know.

Of course, maybe we can make guesses? The Illianer noblewoman could have been instructed to start setting things up for Sammael or even for if Lanfear got Rand to buy into the glory thing and present the Horn at the city. The Atha'an Miere guy may have helped the fall of Cantorin to the Seanchan for Suroth. No clue about the gray-swathed figure, as the only hint to their identity is that they speak to the noblewoman before this. Weiramon probably got started working out Be'lal's entry to high society, and the unknown member of the Queen's Guard would do the same for Rahvin (interestingly, we never hear of this Guard again; presumably he dies or flees by The Fires of Heaven). The Tuatha'an... Maybe they send their group into the path of Shadowspawn or Seanchan?

“Firstly, you are to return to Tarabon and continue your good works. In fact, I command you to redouble your efforts.”

Without the chaos in Tarabon, a lot of the Seanchan's earlier attempts to conquer the west wouldn't have gone off nearly so well. And yet, if the Seanchan hadn't conquered half the continent for Rand, the Light wouldn't have won the Last Battle, so once again the Shadow's efforts are backfiring.

An impossible sky of striated clouds, red and yellow and black, racing as if driven by the mightiest wind the world had ever seen. A woman—a girl?—dressed in white receded into blackness and vanished as soon as she appeared. A raven stared him in the eye, knowing him, and was gone. An armored man in a brutal helm, shaped and painted and gilded like some monstrous, poisonous insect, raised a sword and plunged to one side, beyond his view. A horn, curled and golden, came hurtling out of the far distance. One piercing note it sounded as it flashed toward him, tugging his soul. At the last instant it flashed into a blinding, golden ring of light that passed through him, chilling him beyond death. A wolf leaped from the shadows of lost sight and ripped out his throat. The torrent went on, drowning him, burying him. He could barely remember who he was, or what he was. The skies rained fire, and the moon and stars fell; rivers ran in blood, and the dead walked; the earth split open and fountained molten rock. . . .

These are all imprinted commands, most of which don't ever pay off for our dear Bors, so let's speculate wildly. The first command is related to Shayol Ghul in some way, so it may be priming him for how to behave in the Last Battle when it comes. The next command is possibly about Lanfear but maybe instead it's about Egwene? The girl thing is what makes it hard to parse, but since we know she's on the Shadow's radar at this point it wouldn't be surprising. The raven I got nothing for.

The Seanchan command is clearly about how to behave in battle against them, so it probably triggers during the climax of this novel or is only interrupted by the blowing of the Horn - which Bors is presumably told to acquire if he becomes aware of it. Finally, the last instruction is probably a warning about what Perrin is capable of to keep Bors able to respond should that become a necessity. The rest is probably general apocalyptic crap without much purpose except as a necessary byproduct of whatever True Power trick Ish is using here (above all else, the Dark One's an ass).

Were all the Darkfriends who convulsed given the same commands, or were they also personalized? Seems odd to give an Illianer woman a Seanchan-related command at this point, but Ishamael is presumably playing at least something of a long game.

“If it please you, my Lord Bors, I will show you to your room.”

Zomaran will later be established as being unable to speak, which makes this particular conversation quite the accomplishment! Maybe it's Ish working through T'A'R? Who even knows.

In the back of his mind a small voice wondered if the promised power, even the immortality, was worth another meeting like this, but he laughed it down immediately. For that much power, I would praise the Great Lord of the Dark under the Dome of Truth.

Bors is lying to himself of course (such an act would get him killed much too quickly to be given immortality, and he only acts in his own interest), and is about to be on an exciting adventure into the world of regretting every decision he ever made. But not right now - the prologue is over and we'll be getting back to our heroes shortly!

[iliiuan]

I think Shaidar Haran should have a pet possum. Just cuz.

[markantonys]

there was a great interview with sharon gilham (costume designer) where she gave an intriguing tease about a new character in s3! (this bit starts around the 45-minute mark)

they are "something else"

"not like anything from season 2 or anything you've seen before"

they required a major collaboration between the costume & makeup departments

she paraphrased rafe as describing them as "a really really important, really highly complex character who's coming for one scene only in episode 7 or 8" [that was more that she couldn't remember the episode number, not that rafe wasn't sure at the time what episode they would be in; she did specify that it was at the end of the season because she was saying they were almost out of budget and had this dropped on them lmao so the episode in question does definitely seem to be 7 or 8]

i don't know what to think! lots of people are speculating the finn which fits the first few points, but i'm skeptical because i wouldn't qualify them as "really important, highly complex" characters (and it did definitely sound like one specific character, not a group of characters, though we could have mat meet just one finn). same goes for other creature-y characters like shaidar haran - not that important or complex of a character, unless they plan to bulk him up a lot compared to the books, which is possible. it's also possible sharon/rafe meant visually complex rather than complex characterization-wise, but even with that, i personally wouldn't consider the finn or shaidar haran to be as important as she made it sound like this character is. maybe the gholam could fit the parameters of important & (visually) complex?

i'm also skeptical of mordeth because mashadar was just its own thing not tied to a person in s1 and i kinda doubt they'd introduce him now, but maybe some kind of mordeth-inspired padan fain powerup is possible? or a slayer TAR powerup where he becomes freaky-looking? but the phrasing implies to me that this is a new character who isn't in any other scene in s3, rather than an existing character who gets a powerup to look different.

tuon is a possibility, but would her aesthetic really be THAT different from the high blood we saw in s2? i don't know, maybe it would! another seanchan possibility is the empress herself; it would be so sick if tuon was in multiple scenes in the tanchico plotline and we get to know her not realizing who she is, and then at the very end of the season she goes home and we find out she's the daughter of the seanchan empress. the literal empress would be a good candidate for looking like nothing we'd ever seen before because she'd surely have to be the most over-the-top person in the world. and Mama Tuon could maybe fit the bill of a "really important" character if they bring some of tuon's backstory onscreen and give her a storyline within the court of the nine moons in s4 before heading back to the westlands in s5, thus giving her mom a significant role and making a lot more out of the mommy issues that were hinted at in the books, but even in that scenario it feels like a stretch to consider Mama Tuon THAT important (but again, we just can't know how they might decide to bulk up characters; no one would've ever considered liandrin important based on the books!)

the only other possibility i'm thinking of is a new forsaken, with my strongest guesses being sammael or graendal (since they were both namedropped in s3, and there's also an alleged sammael audition script), and a smaller guess of asmodean (i'd assume we would see him in more than one scene in s3). but here we also run into the question of, how different would they be from the forsaken we've already seen? plus, would they require a "major" collaboration with the makeup department? sammael maaaaybe, depending on how they do his scar.

any standard westland character (aes sedai, political leader or noble, aiel, etc) i wouldn't think would have particularly wild aesthetics, so i'm discounting all those (like cadsuane), but you never know.

i'm sure there's about a hundred other possibilities i'm not thinking of right now! what do you guys think?

[ofthebrownajah]

So we finally know who Nakomi is. The thing I find most interesting is not really that Nakomi is essentially the Creator's version of Shaidar Haran, but that not only is she Aiel but that she's Jenn Aiel (and that apparently there are a few more Jenn Aiel around other than her?)

Where are the other surviving Jenn Aiel then did they join other clans? I have more questions than answers!

[xillionart]

More illustrations from the Japanese version of Lord of Chaos...

From top to bottom: Rand, Gawyn (OMG GAWYN HE IS SO TAKARAZUKA), Min, Taim, Pedron Niall, Demandred following Shaidar Haran into the Shayol Ghul

(I must confess, the two artworks of Rand and Gawyn... I stared... respectfully... ∑(ﾟДﾟ)

[liesmyth]

Fellow kinkster. Gimme your WoT-inspired kinks. I need it for cross-reference xD

OH GOD lol, a lot of what I personally came away with was an Interest in power dynamics, display of possessiveness / submission, and some humiliation.

All the stuff that Really impressed me, whether or not I actually retained, off the top of my head:

All the Rand Ba’alzamon dreams in TEOTW about how Rand would soon kneel in front of his power and the Aes Sedai ran naked and chained to do his bidding - I was ELEVEN. It was A LOT.

Just all the Forsaken talkin about making people crawl at their feet or whatever. They did that pretty often iirc

THE FUCKING COLLARS. “I can make you feel what I decide”. That one bit in TGH where Egwene’s damane said something like, from now on I’ll give you a new name, you’ll better be good and convince me that you really really like it.

Related! The fucking Seanchan human furniture thing.

THE WARDEN BOND. The version of the warden bond with compulsion in it. The fucking Oath Rod.

RAND AND ASMODEAN. Rand making Asmodean swear himself to him and then just mindfucking with him. “You better not keep things from me anymore” threatening scene.... A Lot

Graendal’s whole pet menagerie.

That one torture scene with Semirhage where she was fucking with someone’s brain pleasure centre.

Whatever the hell was going on with the Cour’sovra. Generally, all the stuff with Shaidar Haran and Moridin humiliating Moghedien & Cyndane.

The whole Da’tsang thing.

Moghedien in the Dream Realm threatening Nynaeve with pony play? Moggy, what the fuck. That was also formative though.

Nakedness as humiliation

Nynaeve and Lan’s marriage and just the concept of the Sea Folk marriage where who commands in public obeys in private.. a lot

Oh wow these books were REALLY kinky weren’t they. This is not even counting all the spanking / corporal punishment stuff that never did anything from me. And there was SO MUCH of it — if you like spanking they’re a complete smutfest. Bless

Anyway! All of these had An Impact. I think was into bossy women (same) but also didn’t mind seeing bossy women taken down a peg by other women (same) and also by men (nah). I highkey vibed with a lot of this but needed it to be same gender or F/m with femdom if it was het, and sometimes it was just Too Much so that it circled roght back to over the top instead of sexy. But like. A Lot of it left An Impression on me.

As proven by the fact that I typed this from memory after not touching these books for like a decade. Don’t @ me.

[wot-tidbits]

TIDBITS AND FUN № 342

THE SECRECT OF NAKOMI IS REVEALED!

SOURCE

After almost 10 years we finally learn what is the big mystery for the character of Nakomi. Her entry is revealed in the newcoming book - ORIGINS OF THE WHEEL OF TIME.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

Nakomi. Among the materials Jordan left behind at his passing was a single line of instruction about a mysterious character who would appear to Rand al’Thor as he left Shayol Ghul:

“An unknown woman says to Rand, ‘Yes, that’s good, that’s what you need to do.’ She hurries off.”

Brandon Sanderson explains: Well, the team had no idea who this was and—like the infamous pipe—had no idea why Jordan had chosen to write what he had. But I found it an intriguing seed, reminding me of the other mysterious events (like the voice Rand hears at the end of The Eye of the World). Therefore, as I was working on the Aviendha scenes, I decided to bring in this mysterious woman—whom I named Nakomi. A foreshadowing of the scene Jordan had created at the epilogue.

I decided that this woman was the Creator’s version of Shaidar Haran, something Jordan had explained a little in the notes. A vessel, kind of an avatar, but not quite. Shaidar Haran for the Dark One. Nakomi for the creator. But again, not actually the Creator. Something else, something close to the Creator—and inhabited in part by something of the Creator. As many have guessed, her birth is Jenn Aiel. Yes, the’re still around. A few of them. And providing the vessel who was the counterpart to Shaidar Haran was part of their purpose, lore, and identity. Nakomi (which is her birth name among them) is the latest in this line.

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

[highladyluck]

Wheel of Time Characters with Really Bad Vibes: An Annotated List

The Black Wind

“Flesh so fine, so fine to tear, to gash the skin; skin to strip, to plait, so nice to plait the strips, so nice, so red the drops that fall[...]" -tEotW, ch 45

Padan Fain

"The Black Wind caught him--and he claimed to understand the voices. Some greeted him as like to them; others feared him. No sooner did the Black Wind envelop Fain than it fled." - tEotW, ch 47

Mazrim Taim

"I must kill him," Lews Therin muttered, and the Power surged in Rand. -LoC, ch 28

Shaidar Haran

Demandred turned slowly--how dare a Halfman address him in that tone--but the quelling words died in his mouth. [...] Every Myrddraal was the height of a tall man, a sinuous imitation of a man, as alike as though cast in one mold. This one stood head and shoulders taller. -LoC, prologue

Rand al’Thor

In the corners of her vision, she thought she saw something around him. A halo of blackness, emanating from him. It warped the air like a great heat. Her throat constricted, and words were forming. Yes. Yes. I will do as you ask. Yes. I must. I must. -TGS, Ch 35

Fortuona Athaem Devi Paendrag

Fortuona crossed the chamber to where a proper Imperial Throne had been set up. She commonly came here, to watch the damane being worked or broken. It soothed her. The throne was atop a small dais; she climbed the steps, train rustling as her da'covale carried it. She turned to face the room, allowing the servants to arrange her dress. [...] Those skirts were sewn with the writings of Imperial power. The Empress IS Seanchan. The Empress WILL live forever. The Empress MUST be obeyed. She sat as a living banner to the might of the Empire. -ToM, Ch 47

Semirhage

"My question; you have an answer?" Semirhage regarded Merise, icy contempt in her voice as she spoke. "Do you know what happens to a man when his blood is replaced with something else?" "I did not--" "He dies, of course," Semirhage said, cutting Merise off with words like knives. "The death often happens instantly, and quick deaths are of little interest. With experiment, I discovered that some solutions can replace blood more effectively, allowing the subject to live for a short time after the transfusion." -TGS, Ch 5

Honorable Mention: The nameless clerk in Knife of Dreams who got hit by a tiny portable horror movie premise and died because he was suddenly entirely filled with beetles. I would say RIP, but let's be real, he is absolutely not resting in peace.

[liancrescent]

Inktober Day 26: DARK(ONE)

Dark One with Shaidar Haran

[the-last-punbender]

Forsaken Kill Counts

Out of 19 Forsaken (including reincarnations), 2 survive the Last Battle: Hessalam and Moghedien.

Rand kills 5: Ishamael, Rahvin, Semirhage, Aran’gar, and Moridin.

Egwene kills 2: M’Hael and Mesaana

Moiraine kills Bel’al, and although she forces Lanfear into Sindhol, she is still technically alive.

The Green Man, Lan, and Perrin also get 1 each, putting the total kill count for the Light at 11.

Mashadar (not on either side) kills Sammael.

Forsaken Kills by the Shadow: 5

Ishamael kills Lanfear to get her out of Sindhol

Graendal kills Asmodean

Shaidar Haran presumably kills Graendal

Elza Penfell kills Osan’gar, not realizing he was a Forsaken in disguise

And lastly, Aginor kills himself by overdrawing the One Power at the Eye.

As far as information the Light receives before the end of AMoL is concerned, it is known that Moridin and Cyndane are resurrections, putting the total Forsaken known at 16. As far as anyone knows, Rand killed Graendal. No one knows what happened to Asmodean, Hessalam’s identity is unknown (though she is suspected to be Forsaken), no one knows Rand killed Aran’gar.

Osan’gar is never found out to be anything other than Dashiva. So Aginor woke up, immediately killed himself by accident, was resurrected, then got killed by friendly balefire before accomplishing anything. Bel’al may have a contender for Worst Forsaken; but then again, I forgot about Bel’al when I was trying to remember all the Forsaken.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Prologue: Fortress of the Light

Well I took a much longer break than I expected and now winter's over (hopefully; I do live in Alaska) so it's time to get into the book with a longer break than expected between it and its prequel, but that gets going now that winter's over. Everything else is of course spoilers, and this post is going to have spoilers for the whole damn series so... don't keep reading if that's a problem.

Pedron Niall’s aged gaze wandered about his private audience chamber, but dark eyes hazed with thought saw nothing.

We start out this book with the Whitecloak icon because we're in Whitecloak town. And as is usual in Whitecloak town, every person in the place is looking around wildly and still completely blind to what's in front of them.

Still, he was suddenly aware of the tendon-ridged back of the hand holding the drawing, aware of the need for haste. Time was growing short. His time was growing short. It had to be enough. He had to make it enough.

We do see evidence here and there that despite being a Whitecloak, Niall isn't a completely contemptible person but... He is of course still completely wrong. He's not going to make it to the Last Battl and it won't be old age that takes him. He's in audience with a guy who could be warning him about the threat that will destroy his country but is focused on something else entirely.

It is a worse madness than any false Dragon I’ve ever heard of. Thousands have declared for him already. Tarabon and Arad Doman are in civil war, as well as at war with each other. There is fighting all across Almoth Plain and Toman Head, Taraboner against Domani against Darkfriends crying for the Dragon—or there was fighting until winter chilled most of it. I’ve never seen it spread so quickly, my Lord Captain Commander. Like throwing a lantern into a hay barn.

Considering how in-depth the series gets later on, it's a bit surprising we don't get much of a taste of this initial conflict. This all-consuming war, IIRC, continues to run on and off for pretty much the rest of the series, though the Seanchan do quiet it down and reframe it a great deal in the latter half.

“Lord Captain Bornhald said they called themselves Seanchan, my Lord Captain Commander,” Byar said stolidly. “He said they were Darkfriends. And his charge broke them, even if they killed him.”

Even when Byar touches on the Seanchan it's only in ways that actually misinform Niall. No wonder the LCC is so frustrated with this conversation.

“By this one Darkfriend you spoke of, Child Byar?” He could not keep an edge out of his own voice. A year’s planning lay in ruins amid the corpses of a thousand of the Children, and Byar wanted to talk only of this one man. “This young blacksmith you’ve only seen twice, this Perrin from the Two Rivers?”

Dude is so Perrin-obsessed that I feel that Perrin's ta'veren must be working against them both under these circumstances. Just like how Rand's causes both good and bad things to happen at random, so too does Perrin attract allies and enemies.

Perhaps these wars meant nothing in themselves—men fought wars—but they usually came one at a time. And aside from the false Dragon somewhere on Almoth Plain, another tore at Saldaea, and a third plagued Tear. Three at once.

Consider how different from Europe the setting of this story is, that wars come "one at a time". They don't have the population to sustain Renaissance war rates, even if they do still have the technology.

The Atha’an Miere, the Sea Folk, were said to be ignoring trade to seek signs and portents—of what, exactly, they did not say—sailing with ships half full or even empty.

I believe this is the first mention of them acting weird, so... that's an additional complication to look forward to.

But Tar Valon had apparently sent other Aes Sedai to support the other false Dragon at Falme. Nothing else fit the facts.

Props to Niall here for coming to a somewhat correct conclusion from a variety of incorrect data.

Carridin was tall, well into his middle years, with a touch of gray in his hair, yet fit and hard. His dark, deep-set eyes had a knowing look about them, as always. And he did not blink under the silent study of the Lord Captain Commander. Few men had consciences so clear or nerves so steady.

It's pretty easy to have a clear conscience when you don't have any conscience at all. Shame Niall's not a good enough judge of character to see that.

To serve the Light. Not to serve the Children of the Light. All the Children served the Light, but Pedron Niall often wondered if the Questioners really considered themselves part of the Children at all.

Maybe instead of setting up plans to conquer the continent you could have dealt with the Questioners, Niall? No? Just gonna let that shit heap fester in the sun? Great choice. Absolutely no knives in the back are coming your way... His eyes really aren't seeing anything in this chapter.

The Shadow’s plots are murky, and often seem mad to those who walk in the Light.

Sad thing is, Carridan is probably perfectly accurate in this particular sentence. The Dark spends a lot of its time acting in ways to maximize the paranoia of the common folk, to keep the Light too divided to properly purge it before the end of the Age.

Few ships have tried to cross the Aryth Ocean, and most never returned. Those that did, turned back before they ran out of food and water. Even the Sea Folk will not cross the Aryth, and they sail wherever there is trade, even to the lands beyond the Aiel Waste. My Lord Captain Commander, if there are any lands across the ocean, they are too far to reach, the ocean too wide. To carry an army across it would be as impossible as flying.

1. The Seanchan also do fly, naturally.

2. As Niall points out, this isn't a proof, it's only a (logical) guess.

3. The Sea Folk actually have made it across a few times, though they refer to the far end as the Isles of the Dead or something similar. Carridin probably isn't pointing this out either because he doesn't know or if he does because he doesn't want to make reaching the Seanchan continent seem plausible.

“Most people think Trollocs are only travelers’ tales and lies, and most of the rest think they were all killed in the Trolloc Wars. What other name would they put to a Trolloc but monster?”

This... also isn't proof. Shame the Whitecloaks don't like logic as much as the White Aes Sedai do.

“Even a false Dragon,” Niall said dryly, “is not enough to make them forget four hundred years of squabbling over possession of Almoth Plain. As if either of them ever had the strength to hold it.”

Even the real Dragon only manages to unite them through his second-order unification, as they lie across the Seanchan/West divide otherwise.

“At first they were only rumors, my Lord Captain Commander. Rumors so wild, no one could believe. By the time I learned the truth, Bornhald had joined battle. He was dead, and the Darkfriends scattered. Besides, my task was to bring the Light to Almoth Plain. I could not disobey my orders to chase after rumors.”

Bro doesn't even have a good excuse. If Niall wasn't busy scheming for his own agenda, he could have ended Carridan here and now and saved everyone a lot of trouble.

He would never put forward one of his own, but I doubt he’d quibble if I named you. A few days under the question, and you would confess to anything. Name yourself Darkfriend, even. You would go under the headsman’s axe inside a week.

Actually perhaps I'm overoptimistic here. Perhaps the High Inquisitor - or just the Darkfriends amid the Whitecloaks - would ferry Carridin away or arrange for an early demise before he could give away any information at all. Replace him with the next dude, same as the first.

Loose a lion—a rabid lion—in the streets. And when panic grips the people, once it has turned their bowels to water, calmly tell them you will deal with it. Then you kill it, and order them to hang the carcass up where everyone can see. Before they have time to think, you give another order, and it will be obeyed. And if you continue to give orders, they will continue to obey, for you will be the one who saved them, and who better to lead?

Niall of course foreshadows Perrin's rise to power, though the boy does it kicking and screaming.

Niall rubbed his hands together. He felt cold. The dice were spinning, with no way of telling what pips would show when they stopped.

In a way, Niall inadvertently views himself as a dark mirror to all three ta'veren. Perrin, by means of creating an enemy to unite people; Mat, as a Great General with a focus on gambling, and Rand...

But he, Pedron Niall, would unite humankind behind the banners of the Children of the Light. There would be new legends, to tell how Pedron Niall had fought Tarmon Gai’don, and won.

Rand like this.

A month before, in the dead of winter, the gangly little man had arrived in Amadicia, ragged and half-frozen, and somehow managed to talk his way through all the layers of guards to Pedron Niall himself. He seemed to know things about events on Toman Head that were not in Carridin’s voluminous if obscure reports, or in Byar’s tale, or in any other report or rumor that had come to Niall. His name was a lie, of course. In the Old Tongue, Ordeith meant “wormwood.”

"Wormwood" is a Book of Revelation reference: "The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter."

But also, poor, poor Niall. He sees himself as a man of cold logic (steel, cuendillar, etc.) but with Ordeith around whatever virtues he had are assuredly doomed.

The Two Rivers,” Niall mused. “Someone else mentioned another Darkfriend from there, another youth. Strange to think of Darkfriends coming from a place like that. But truly they are everywhere.”

Niall is almost, ALMOST clever enough to realize how stupid this claim is... But Ordeith's a fast talker.

Much of the drawing was only a smudge, and a rip ran across the young man’s breast, but miraculously the face was untouched.

Fain can tear Rand up physically, as can most of the Shadow, but despite everything, the boy remains.

“Perhaps I must make plans for the Two Rivers. When the snows clear. Perhaps.” “As the Great Lord wishes,” Ordeith said blandly.

And so we set up... next book's plot. Seems a little premature for this book's prologue but sure! Also note that Ordeith calls Niall the same thing all the Darkfriends call the Dark One. You'd think a real servant of the light would notice and object...

It was a man in form, no larger than most, but there the resemblance ended. Dead black clothes and cloak, hardly seeming to stir as it moved, made its maggot-white skin appear ever paler. And it had no eyes. That eyeless gaze filled Carridin with fear, as it had filled thousands before.

Oddly, the wiki says that this is the first appearance of Shaidar Haran and that it was only described as a "very tall Myrddraal" at this stage but as you can see, this Myrddraal is actually... a little short for a storm trooper. I'm going to make the executive decision that no, this Fade is not even an early SH variant and that if Jordan wanted me to think so he should have put it in the text where it belonged instead of interviews after the fact.

The Halfman’s bloodless lips quirked in a smile. “Where there is shadow, there may I go.”

There really must be some other limit to the Myrddraal's shadow-stepping technique because otherwise one of them should have just stepped in Rand's shadow and killed him if they wanted him dead so bad.

The Myrddraal grated, “Your Lord Captain Commander’s words are dung! You were commanded to find the human called Rand al’Thor and kill him. That before all else. Above all else! Why are you not obeying?”

And so we see the trap that Carridin is in, an interesting trap indeed considering that in later books Rand will be off the kill list. It's a good thing Ba'alsy is mad enough for the inconsistency to just seem to be his illness and nothing more. Though perhaps this Fade works for one of the other Forsaken (Sammael? Rahvin?) It certainly isn't the DO deciding this (another thing that makes it hard to believe it's SH), because his orders are even clearer: let the Lord of Chaos rule.

“Hear me, human. You will find this youth and kill him as quickly as possible. Do not think you can dissemble. There are others of your children who will tell me if you turn aside in your purpose. But I will give you this to encourage you. If this Rand al’Thor is not dead in a month, I will take one of your blood. A son, a daughter, a sister, an uncle. You will not know who until the chosen has died screaming. If he lives another month, I will take another. And then another, and another. And when there is no one of your blood living except yourself, if he still lives, I will take you to Shayol Ghul itself.”

Frankly Mr. not-Haran, I don't think that's a great threat for Carridin until you invoked his suffering. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who cares about his family at all...

With his good hand Carridin struck the basket from Sharbon’s hands, sending withered winter apples rolling across the carpets, and backhanded the man across the face.

The hierarchy of evil is so pathetic, isn't it? Ah well.

So ends the third book's prologue. The first book's prologue was an Age before the main story and sets up the conflict of the book and the series clearly. The second book's prologue was at least a little before the chapters of the second book and set up the conflict of the book and the series clearly. This prologue doesn't bother with that and instead sets the tone for the vast majority of the prologues to come: checking in on the plot threads that aren't doing anything this book. Probably one of my least favorite structural choices in these books, but it's a minor quibble.

Next time: Rampant abuse of innocent corvids.

[readerbell]

Tylin stinks and my sympathy for the way she left the series was curtailed by her actions. I hate the way that entire sequence is written. And while Elayne had a terrible initial reaction, the girls get a bad wrap for a situation they weren’t aware of until the very end. Elayne laughing was disgusting but she immediately apologised when the severity of what was going on dawned on her. She also apparently told Nynaeve about it. That’s the read I got from this section of the books as they’re leaving Ebou Dar.

Mat thinks Nynaeve’s glower is for him but Elayne’s commiserating face, Nynaeve’s glower and Tylin’s words all suggest to me that a) the glower is aimed at Tylin and b) Nynaeve had words with her telling her to back off. I just wish we got those words on the page. Nothing I know about Nynaeve tells me she would’ve left without saying anything & had they remained in the city while she continued making Mat’s life hell, I’m sure both girls would’ve made what they did to cow Amathera seem like child’s play. Nynaeve threatened the Seanchan Empress, who they needed for peace before the Last Battle just because she said something slightly negative about Mat. Tylin, with her heinous actions and power base of a single city, wouldn’t stand a chance. The only reasons it seems like they didn’t do enough to protect Mat are because they didn’t know what was truly happening to Mat until just before they were leaving, because we didn’t see that confrontation on screen and because RJ has a knack of writing sexually traumatising scenes and just never touching on them and the effect they have on people ever again. He does it with Nynaeve’s Accepted Test, he does it with Mat at the hands of Tylin, and again with Mesaana and Moghedien at the hands of Shaidar Haran. All these things happen and neither the bystanders or the victims ever think about it again. I HATE that aspect of the books.

As a side note, when Tuon asked Tylin to go flying on the to’raken with her, you have no idea how much I wished she would just throw her off mid-flight. 😭

[asha-mage]

WoT Musing: ACOS and Awesome Moments

Despite all it’s many controversies (Mat and Tylin, Cadsuane, who I haven’t even done an actual musing on, Rand’s List of Women getting rolling in earnest) ACOS is still PROBABLY my favorite of the entire series, and so much of that has to do with the sheer concentration of Awesome Moments the book contains. Nynaeve breaking her block, Elayne schooling the snobby Aes Sedai, Mat’s fight with the gholam, Rand’s battle with Sammael, hell even Team Evil gets in quite a few good sequences: Sammael scattering the Aiel, Alviarain bringing Elaida to heel, Moghiden surviving Shaidar Haran.

It is also imo the funniest book in the series (’I wont shout at you’, ‘She felt a great desire to say boo just to see what would happen’, Elayne memorizing curse words from Mat, the ENTIRE scene where Mat is hungover).

So yeah, ACOS might be a problematic fav TM, but it’s MY problematic fav.

[butterflydm]

wot reread: lord of chaos (prologue)

spoilers through lord of chaos. this one is longer than normal because I was not willing to split the prologue into pieces. I’m sure I’ll have to do it with later ones, lol.

1. Starting with the biggest tease of the Forsaken, Demandred. We get an inside look at Shayol Ghul and how things are run there: pretty nasty. People being sacrificed to create weapons; it’s bitter cold but so dry that the moisture is practically sucked from your mouth when breathing. Unpleasant place! Apparently used to be a lovely island retreat back in the Age of Legends. Hey, Demandred, ever miss the Age of Legends? Ever regret helping to screw all that up?

2. A lot of this terrible stuff was kinda created by Aginor, iirc. The ‘forgers’ who make weapons out of human sacrifices and the Trollocs (and by extension the Fades) etc.

3. I am trying to remember if we ever find out what was UP with Shaidar Haran. Mr. Super Weird and Extra Creepy Fade. I do not remember his deal, if we ever learned it.

4. Shayol Ghul/the Pit of Doom isn’t the location of The Bore, where the Dark One touches the world, but the Pattern is thinner here, so The Bore is more easily sensed. Also, Demandred is kinda... getting off? on being around the Dark One. So, that’s... I guess part of the appeal of staying on the side of the Shadow? I also want to note that YET ANOTHER Shadow/Seanchan parallel has popped up: The Day of the Return vs The Return. Ravens, moons, very big on ‘lessers’ groveling to their ‘betters’, big on maintaining a constant level of paranoia and fear, using pain vs pleasure to train people in proper behavior, and now we have The Return as well, when they will come back in glory to Show Them All and Rule Over Them. I am so curious about the intended meaning behind all the Shadow/Seanchan parallels.

5. Demandred tells The Dark One that Rahvin is dead, Lanfear and Asmodean have vanished, and Moghedien missed a meeting with Graendal. TDO says Asmodean is dead and good riddance the traitor (essentially) but he’s kinda bummed he can’t bring back Rahvin but even TDO can’t revive people from balefire (implied: he CAN revive from other things). Demandred feels anger and frustration from TDO. And TDO called Rand “my ancient enemy”. Also, hmm. The description of how freely using Balefire during the War of Power also ‘unraveled reality’ and using it again like that would mean ‘no world to rule’ in the future. Ah. And then he gets some instructions from TDO.

6. We flip to a Nynaeve PoV. Siuan is suddenly wearing embroidered dresses with a low neckline, the universal Jordan symbol of “she has it hot for a guy and thus immediately starts adjusting her appearance to hopefully appeal to him”. *sigh* Anyway, Nynaeve is studying Siuan and Leane in hopes of figuring out how to heal them being stilled.

7. The reveal that Nynaeve is using her hidden a’dam link with the captured Moghedien to channel is pretty well done. Narratively clever, I think. Magic science talk from Elayne: a’dam work by creating “absolutely identical matrices” between the two people being linked. Moghedien informs them that cutting the connection to the True Source used to be called ‘severing’, before the Aes Sedai gendered it and split it into ‘stilling’ for women and ‘gentling’ for men. Nynaeve is annoyed at the random AoL knowledge but I want to Know More. Pls let Moghedien talk, Nynaeve. We learned that a severed channeler can still use the bracelet half of an a’dam - which makes sense. It’s the genetic potential to channel that matters, I suspect, not actually being able to form a connection, which is why learners who have never touched the Source themselves are the sul’dam.

8. Yeah, the difficulty in Salidar is that they’re trying to get the Aes Sedai there to support Rand without giving away that that’s their agenda. It does sound very frustrating. To add to the frustrations: an embassy is being sent to Caemlyn and Elayne is not only not allowed on it, she’s not even supposed to mention it again. Because they will not ‘risk’ letting the ‘Daughter-Heir fall into the hands of the Dragon Reborn’. *screams in frustration* But Siuan says the real reason is that they won’t want to let her go until she’s a full Sister and ‘belongs’ to the White Tower, essentially, which is... honestly also very frustrating on so many levels.

9. It’s kinda heartbreaking to read the difference between holding saidar and holding tainted saidin. Anyway, the Aes Sedai in Salidar (including Our Group) are very nervous/wary/scared of Rand’s amnesty for men who can channel.

10. Elayne’s two points: a. as Daughter-Heir, she SHOULD be there if her mom is dead or missing, to reassure the people that the succession is intact; and b. she is one of the very few Tower-related women that Rand might actually trust are SUCH good points and I am, honestly, very offended on her behalf that she’s treated as a child instead of a politician here. Because she is thinking politically as well as with her heart. She would be the ONE PERSON (apart from Nynaeve) that they could send with the embassy that would make Rand have an immediate favorable reaction. It would be genuinely smart in so many ways to send her along, but the Aes Sedai are so tradition-bound and fearful that they won’t even consider the idea.

11. The Aes Sedai are panicked over Rand being too powerful, too quickly and... and then deciding he doesn’t need them. Which I think is the real issue. They don’t want to reach out to support Rand unless they feel like they can deal from a position of strength. They want him to believe that he needs them more than they need him. And that’s exactly the thing that Moiraine screwed up over and over -- she tried to place herself in a position of power over Rand and he balked and pushed her away and resented it. It wasn’t until she stopped trying to control him that she was able to have any influence over him at all as an advisor. Moiraine has reached legend status among the Aes Sedai in Salidar for taking out two of the Forsaken, but sadly none of them are aware of the lesson that Moiraine had to learn in order to ACTUALLY be someone Rand was willing to trust.

12. Elayne is informed that nine Aes Sedai will be going to Caemlyn... and Min. Being sent to have her talent potentially help Rand, but a secret to the sisters. Nynaeve is so protective of Elayne and Rand’s relationship here! But, also, wow, who... who told Nynaeve that Min was in love with Rand? Because Nynaeve immediately jumps to calling Leane out as an asshole for throwing Min going to Rand in Caemlyn in Elayne’s face like that, and Min’s feelings for Rand are talked about as a Known Thing. Did Siuan or Leane let it spill or did Elayne tell Nynaeve or... it does seem clear that no one told any of these three about Min’s viewing of the three women, but Siuan and Leane DO know that Min ‘saw’ that she would love Rand. lol, did Mohedien just make a half-hearted attempt to convince Nynaeve to join the Shadow? That was kinda funny.

13. It really does feel so narratively unkind on Jordan’s part for there to be so many good reasons for Elayne to go to Caemlyn but not only is she not allowed, but the woman that she knows is in love with her sorta-boyfriend IS allowed to go and she’s absolutely NOT reconciled to the idea of sharing him and certainly not enthusiastic about it. Min’s presence is turning my polycule fantasies into a harem instead, as always, lol. On the plus side, Elayne has been working out how to make ter’angreal, so that’s neat.

14. Wow, and the embassy is leaving the very same day that Elayne found out about it. And she only found out about MIN leaving with it because of Leane, so if she hadn’t heard it from Leane, she wouldn’t have found out about that until Min had already left Salidar. ...I still do not get why Elayne feels like she ‘must’ choose the Green because she already bonded Birgitte. She’s a Secret Warder, Elayne! She also thinks about how there are so many tricks and lies among the Aes Sedai in Salidar. DESPITE THE THREE OATHS, ELAYNE! THE OATHS ARE POINTLESS, ELAYNE. lol, sorry, I feel strongly about this.

15. Elayne evaluating Min’s potential attractiveness to gauge if Rand will go for her -- would be cute if it were in a supportive ‘yay poly’ way but kinda sad in the actual intended way. Min says she also only found out about the embassy this morning and that Siuan claims she’s being sent there to spy on Rand. (x) doubt. Siuan knows that Min won’t send back info on Rand. Elayne literally considers the idea of tying Min up with the Power to prevent her from leaving with the embassy... yeah, she’s not into it . The idea of the wot polycule is incredibly my thing and I love some of the individual relationships (basically the triad of relationships formed by Rand-Elayne-Aviendha) but in practice it, uh, yeah. It’s definitely a harem, unfortunately, and the harem-ness of it really is very driven by the Fate Says Thou Must nature of Min’s viewing. The weirdest thing (to me) is that there IS a poly structure in place that DOES require an enthusiastic buy-in (the Aiel system, even if it is unfortunately limited to sister-wives in Jordan’s version) but we lean on Min’s reluctant ‘but we must share even if we don’t want to’ structure instead. I have high hopes for the show, though, due to Alanna-Ihvon-Maksim.

16. Elayne tells Min not to tell Rand about the viewing, because he’ll decide that means that the Pattern is forcing their relationship and it’s not what they really want and noble sacrifice, etc. She really does know Rand so well. MIN, otoh, doesn’t know Rand at all and assumes he’d be thrilled to have two/three hot girls on tap at all times. The contrast in how well Elayne understands Rand as a person vs Min... not doing that is so strong here, before Min and Rand meet up again. I’m very curious if she’ll actually understand Rand better once they’ve met up again or if Women and Men Just Can’t Understand Each Other continues to get in the way. Anyway, Min’s terrible pie metaphor does make me glad that Aviendha Got There First. Aviendha wanted Rand DESPITE her viewing (which actually made her hostile towards him for quite a while), despite it going against her honor, despite all her good sense, etc. Basically the exact opposite of Min, who loves Rand BECAUSE of her viewing. And I find the ‘despite’ angle much more appealing than the ‘because’. (though Elayne and Rand are still my favorite because they fell for each other entirely naturally, with no knowledge of any prophecies at all)

17. Oh, man, this bit at the end.

Elayne: Let’s talk about something other than Rand. Literally ANYTHING happy that isn’t about Rand.

Min: But Rand is my whole personality now, Elayne.

I mean, that really is essentially their conversation at the end there. When Elayne asks to talk about ‘something happy’ that isn’t about Rand, Min can think of NOTHING except Rand-related things. That’s so depressing! Get a hobby! A non-Rand-related hobby!

18. Oh, hi, Faile. I have to admit, while I was reading TFOH, I did not really think at all about Faile and Perrin at all, or miss them. But let’s check in with the newlyweds! Anyway, just to check in:

The Bashere/Aybara newlyweds constructing a manor house much larger than any other house in the Two Rivers is a totally cool and proper Lord thing to do, because you gotta make sure you have the best of everything. That’s just How You Lord 101 and is definitely not a sign of ego.

Elaida building a palace on the White Tower grounds (a place that already has very tall buildings) is a horrific sign of her ego and how she’s overstepping her place in the world.

It’s all about the scale, I suppose. Elaida should have stuck to an elaborate manor house.

19. ...she’s holding court. Faile is holding court in the Two Rivers. Our egalitarian farming community has a court now. How did they go from “hey you’re a fairly good war-leader” to holding court in, like, a couple of months? A few months? idk how long it’s been. And she does it every day! I actually kinda hate what this plot line does for the Two Rivers as a place. I liked the Defense of Two Rivers fighty-fighty part of the plotline in TSR but I am not a fan of “let’s just turn this place into feudalism”. I’m honestly on Perrin’s side at this point: “the idea of passing judgment on people he had grown up among horrified him”. Cheers to that, bro. Anyway, there are a lot of refugees from other places ending up in the Two Rivers these days.

20. Faile’s first ‘judgement’ is to tell the two women in conflict to go to the Wisdom to sort things out. aka the exact procedure that they used to have in place before they arbitrarily decided they wanted a lord and lady. And Faile thinking that the people of Two Rivers ‘seemed to have forgotten she was an outlander’... you’re “my lady” to them. This is not a Two Rivers thing. This was imported. But Jordan seems to have this weird idea that lord/ladyship is an inherent thing that automatically comes along with all these random in-born urges from the ‘peasants’ who actually desperately want a lord above them. WHY do the people of the Two Rivers want to call him Lord Perrin? We know why Hurin wanted to call Rand ‘Lord Rand’ -- it was from the culture he grew up in. And the people wanting to call Mat a lord are also from cultures that already have those things. Why do the Two Rivers folk spontaneously want a lord? And Faile even thinks of these audiences as mostly a waste of time and yet... here we are. And, wow, HATE that the village Wisdoms “turn into simpering girls around Perrin” (according to Faile). Wow.

21. Yeah, Faile is All About enforcing her newly-born Authority over the Two Rivers and teaching them the proper way to behave around Lords and Ladies, even though Perrin explicitly hates and dislikes the people of the Two Rivers behaving that way around him! This marriage appears very incompatible right now. I don’t doubt that they’re in love, I suppose, but, wow, they want very different things from life.

22. No, seriously, why are the four village Wisdoms all hot for Perrin’s body now? They’re smoothing their skirts and fixing their hair at the thought of him. It seems so... random? I guess it’s part of the Perrin-Casanova glow-up that he got in TSR, when he retroactively had the best dating life in the Two Rivers, prior to leaving with Moiraine. Anyway, we do finally see Perrin again, after holding court with Faile for several pages, and he mentions that he’s feeling the ta’veren tug from Rand. She talks of duty and means lordship, but when he hears duty, he thinks of Rand. Interesting that he feels it now -- the Pattern reaches back in time, I guess. I’m guessing he didn’t mention to Tam and Abell WHY he was leaving, since he hasn’t actually told them that Rand is the Dragon Reborn. I’m honestly not sure how long it’s been since the last scene in the Two Rivers (timeline-wise) -- sounds like it may have been a few months?

23. Gawyn PoV now. Today, I’m thinking about the Younglings vs the Band of the Red Hand, which were both ad hoc groups constructed in the middle of a battle based on need. But the Younglings were the result of a single group splitting into pieces in a ‘civil war’ scenario, while the BotRH involved different sides merging to form a more culturally-diverse unit. But they’re both fighting groups under a young, charismatic leader that has a reputation for winning and is gaining recruits at a swift rate. And both of them are trying to use the knowledge of the past (Gawyn: every soldiering book he could find in the White Tower; Mat: the memories of past soldiers) to fight the wars that will soon be upon them.

Anyway, the remnants of the Shaido, led by Sevanna, are here to form an alliance with the Sisters leading the embassy to Rand in Cairhien. Which obviously is major warning bells for readers that the embassy is not on the up and up, though not for Gawyn. He thinks Elaida legit is planning to announce honest support for Rand. Ah, and here we have the Random Peddlers whose second-hand news that Rand totally killed Morgase Gawyn takes for Definite The Absolute Truth No Doubt. “...rumors on everyone’s lips sometimes had a way of being true” ...it was one person, Gawyn. But he does kinda break a little when he thinks that Elayne might be dead too, potentially at Rand’s hand. He is a Very Traumatized Young Man. Anyway, now he thinks he maybe wants to kill Rand.

24. On the Aes Sedai side, we learn that at least two of the sisters are Black Ajah and we also learn, in a casual aside comment, that there are some sisters “following behind” aka more than nine sisters are going to Cairhien. They’re also hoping they can find a way to get Gawyn and his Younglings killed while they’re all out here.

On the Shaido side, we learn that Sevenna is trying to think of a quiet way to assassinate Desaine, the Wise One that is willing to disagree with her and thinks she shouldn’t be playacting as a Wise One when she hasn’t been to Rhuidean. Sevenna has THOUSANDS of Aiel with her. Why are there so many Shaido? And they are fully planning to betray the Aes Sedai and take Rand for their own. And that Sevanna had an odd meetings with a wetlander man who gave her a cube that a channeler can use to get control of Rand, per his words.

25. Morgase is in Amadicia, with the King there. We are reminded, as we’ve been in pretty much every segment. That it’s Really Hot. Morgase isn’t having a great time and it gets worse then the Lord Captain Commander of the Whitecloaks shows up. He brings the news that ‘Gaebril’ is dead, killed by the Dragon Reborn, and offers her five-thousand soldiers to take Andor back from him. He also makes his argument to her that Rand is a false Dragon and that Aes Sedai do all this channeling for him. We also learn that Lady Dyelin is the next in line for the throne if both Morgase and Elayne are dead. He leaves her with the info that he will be posting Whitecloak guards here, where she is staying.

Niall HAS convinced himself of his own story, btw. He absolutely believes not only that Rand is a false Dragon but that the Dragon Reborn isn’t a real thing. Okay, the Trolloc Wars were two-thousand years ago, per Niall here, and Mat’s earliest memories are four or five hundred years before that. So, 2500 years. Okay, got it. Niall DOES believe in the Last Battle, tho. He blames pretty much EVERYTHING on the Aes Sedai in his internal narration. Anyway, he is sending the Questioners to pretend to be Dragonsworn in order to create resistance against Rand.

26. And, then we are back with the Forsaken again. Semirhage and Mesaana are having a meeting and waiting for Demandred. It has been seventeen days since Demandred went to Shayol Ghul, where we started the prologue. Mesaana can’t put her finger on why she doesn’t like Semirhage. lol, we get the story of how Demandred was Second-Best to our LTT in everything his entire life and thus turned to the Shadow. The last of their group that is meeting together is Graendal. She says that Sammael won’t be coming because he doesn’t trust any of the others and possibly not even himself. We learn that Mesaasa is a little over three-hundred and was considered to have just entered early middle-age. lol, Mesaana’s reason for going to the Shadow being that she was denied a research post and had to be a TEACHER instead and now she will TEACH THEM ALL. Oh, Forsaken. “Demandred was the gambler”.

There’s a narrative echo in the EF5 kinda reflecting the Forsaken but not going to the Shadow. Theoretically, Mat, our gambler, COULD feel like Demandred did, always in Rand’s shadow, etc. That was the angle that Melindhra tried to push at him. Except that he didn’t care if he was in Rand’s shadow or not. He was never trying to outmatch Rand’s accolades (which makes a Certain Scene not really ring true for me) or compete with him. Melindhra tried to tell Mat that he was in Rand’s shadow and he was basically... uh, yeah, okay, kinda just want to not die here. He didn’t care. And that’s why he wasn’t Demandred.

It’s interesting to me that Mesaana thinks about how “Lews Therin minted his own luck” because she connects that to Rand, but I feel like, as a reader, that reads much more Mat to me. And I think that... spreading out of ta’veren... is a good thing for the Pattern? Though not always for me, because I want Main Characters Interacting With Each Other lol.

27. And in the last section of the prologue, we meet Osan’gar and Asan’gar. They are 100% not going to be in the show, which is probably for the best. Anyway, they exist and the souls of the two dead Forsaken from EotW stuffed into new (stolen) bodies. Creepy Fade is giving them orders. And we are finally done with this very long prologue! (yes, I know they will get longer lol)