#the emond's field five

[flo-n-flon]

"I see sparks of light trying to fill the shadows, and the shadows trying to swallow the sparks."

[casualavocados]

It made me think of us. All of us. And how together we face the impossible. (insp by @markantonys)

THE WHEEL OF TIME 2.01 A Taste Of Solitude | 2.08 What Was Meant To Be

[cassandrablah]

So I'm about halfway through book three of the wheel of time right now, and I'm just thinking about the parents back at Emond's Field. Because (spoilers) Mat and Rand's fathers BOTH took a very long and harsh journey all the way to Tar Valon to see if their sons were alive or if any of the other kids were okay, only to be told that they had no idea where they were. I mean think about it.

These people woke up one morning to FIVE of their kids missing after a terrifying raid in the middle of the night, and the only way they were told that they left on their own free will was because at least one of them (I think it was Egwene) left a note. They go through the spring, summer, fall and then the winter and hear nothing. All they know is that their children has been taken by an Aei Sedai and there's a good chance that they won't be coming back. But they still have hope.

So now I imagine all the townspeople having a meeting thinking about what they should do, if they should do anything. Eventually they either decided to send Master Cauthon and Tam out, or they decided to do it themselves. They're farmers. They have no money and Tar Valon is very far. There are Trollocs and dark friends everywhere. They know this because they saw them with their own eyes. But they go anyway because they need to know if their children are okay. We have no idea (at this point) if they ever got into any trouble, or how they were doing on money and food. What we do know is that they got to Tar Valon, saw the Amrilyn Seat, and were told that they had no idea where their sons or the children of their friends were. Can you imagine having to walk away after that?

I know that if I had gone to those lengths, risked everything out of fear for my child, and spent at least a year and a half wondering if they were dead somewhere or brainwashed by these witches, I would have lost my mind. My heart would have broke and I don't think I would have been able to put it back together. Because not only does no one know where they are, but one of the strongest influences in the continent don't know.

I feel so bad for the Emond Fielder's. They just want things to go back to the way they were.

[asha-mage]

Robert Jordan finished WoT AU 😈

[Send me a potential AU and I'll answer with five things from that story!]

ahahaahahaha, you bait me so zorpi! This is more a 'things I reasonably can guess from my many read through the series' more then anything else, but-

Based on Perrin's portion of the Jordan written ending their was clearly meant to be a moment where Perrin had to choose between Faile's safety and the fulfillment of his duty- and choose his duty, trusting in Faile to protect herself and make her own choices. This is also pretty clearly what Malden and the battle with the Shaido was meant to set up: Perrin realizing that his obsessive desire to protect/love Faile was as much flaw as virtue, and that true love would be trusting her strength and courage. In Jordan's ending I would guess that this would likely have manifested having a choice between leaving the Two Rivers force at the front lines to go rescue Faile, who is carrying the Horn to Mat, or else stay with the Two Rivers Forces and trust Faile- choosing the later. Thus his racing through the battlefield in the aftermath, and finding Faile still alive in the carnage, would be his arc reaching it's conclusions, being rewarded for his trust and faith in her.

Mat was, I suspect, supposed to play a much larger role in the negotiations to get the Seanchan into the coalition against the Shadow, serving as leverage and pressure to get Tuon to the table and to agree to the terms- I also suspect based on his reticence regarding the Empire from when he and Tuon part in KoD, he was supposed to be a lot more reluctant/put off on the idea of commanding the Seanchan forces, and it was originally supposed to be Tuon's idea and/or part of her compromise- she'll join, but her army will follow Mat, not the Dragon appointed supreme commander.

I think we would have gotten a lot more Gabrelle, Toveine, and Logain as our Black Tower PoVs/the counter coup against Taim- Toveine was already being set up in this role in KoD and prior, and it would make sense as a means for her to 'redeem' herself of the Vileness, and it fits with Jordan's usual 'closing of the circle' that one of the Red Sister who helped with the slaughter of the men who could channel, would be one of the first and strongest converts to the Black Tower's cause.

I think we where supposed to also a get bit more thematic conflict/contrast between Graendal and Rand in Arad Doman. In general the political situatuion in Arad Doman feels very....off from how Jordan normally works politics. I think the broad beats (destruction of Natrin's Barrow, failure to stabilize the region, Rand abandoning Bandar Ebon to starve at his lowest moment) would be the same, but it feels very strange things like the merchant council politics and Graendal's broader parallels to Rand (especially in that moment- as she /also/ crumpled under impossible standards and failure to live up to perfection as Rand is currently inthe process of doing) would be far more dug into.

Finally, I think we would have had a least one major reunion scene with the original Emond's Field 5- I know this is something Sanderson wanted to do and tried very hard to manage but didn't quite fit in, which I think is sad. It really feels like their is a missing moment in there, where Mat, Perrin, Rand, Egwene and Nynaeve where all supposed to sit down and reflect on how far they've come and how before the final battle. It especially feels like something that would have been appropriate from either Nynaeve and Rand's perspective.

[markantonys]

Wheel of Time S2 Countdown

Day 5: Favorite Dynamic → the Emond's Field Five We don't need the Aes Sedai. We're Two Rivers folk. I'll heal what I can, and when Egwene and Perrin arrive, we'll sort out the rest. Together.

[maarigolds]

Since yall liked the first one I made more

bonus: emond's field five + possibly being the dragon reborn

[lordgolden]

since the show is making the Emond’s field five (and co) actually friends I hope we get some big tel’aran’rhiod meet ups in later seasons

[palendromicdragonrider]

I’m rewatching The Wheel of Time and I totally forgot how fucking funny it is when Moiraine Damodred, a woman who is physically incapable of lying, looks at the Emonds Field Five and says “I didn’t tell you anything when I first met you because I couldn’t trust you. But now that I know you all better I. . .” AND SHE CAN’T SAY SHE TRUSTS THEM NOW!!

To be fair, I wouldn’t trust those hobgoblins at that point in the story either,but it cracks me up. She walked herself into that, too.

[thejuliettecai]

wheel of time season two finale spoilers!

the avengers? no the Emond's field five!!!!!!!! (yes I know this five increases to six because of more people!)

instead of saying wow they look like the avengers im going to start saying wow they look like the Emond's Field Five

lol

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 23 - The Testing

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Flame icon) In which we read one of my favourite chapters together, how exciting.

PERSPECTIVE: Nynaeve is wary of this chamber, far below the Tower. Sheriam Sedai has dragged her to a domed room carved out of the bedrock of the island, and under the dome three arches, tall enough to walk under, sitting on a ring, all one single grand piece of silver. One Aes Sedai sits at each corner where the arches connect with the ring, and a fourth stands nearby at a table with three silver chalices full of clear water. All five are wearing their Ajah shawls, all five a different colour. Nynaeve is still wearing a dress from Fal Dara.

She asks Sheriam what this is, and she replies that it's a ter'angreal. That tells Nynaeve nothing, what does it do?(1)

“Ter’angreal do many things, child. Like angreal and sa’angreal, they are remnants of the Age of Legends that use the One Power, though they are not quite so rare as the other two. While some ter’angreal must be made to work by Aes Sedai, as this one must, others will do what they do simply with the presence of any woman who can channel. There are even supposed to be some that will function for anyone at all. Unlike angreal and sa’angreal, they were made to do specific things. One other we have in the Tower makes oaths binding. When you are raised to full sisterhood, you will take your final vows holding that ter’angreal. To speak no word that is not true. To make no weapon for one man to kill another. Never to use the One Power as a weapon except against Darkfriends or Shadowspawn, or in the last extreme of defending your own life, that of your Warder, or that of another sister.”(2) Nynaeve shook her head. It sounded either like too much to swear or too little, and she said so.

Once, Aes Sedai were trusted, and didn't have to swear the Oaths, but times have changed. Now, the Oaths allow nations to deal with them without fear of the One Power.(3) But, Nynaeve can't learn in a night what novices take years to learn before this point. This ter'angreal is safe enough, though some are not, and will make her face her greatest fears. She walks through one arch, then the next, then the third, and it's done, and she becomes Accepted. That's all you can know before the trial. Two more things, can she know now:

Firstly, that once it starts, she must see it through to the end. If at any point she refuses to go on, she will be put out of the Tower with enough money to last a year, and she will never be able to return. Second, to seek is to know danger. Some women have entered and never come back out. When the ter'angreal was allowed to grow quiet, they were not there, and they were never seen again. If you want to survive, you must be steadfast. Nynaeve is given one more chance to say no, and have her name marked in the Novice book. She can have two more chances, but a third refusal will have her put out of the Tower. Many do refuse, the first time. It's a lot to take in. Sheriam herself declined on the first attempt.

Nynaeve thinks about all she has to learn, particularly to make Moiraine pay for what she's done to Emond's Field. She is ready. Sheriam guides her into the chamber.

There's a short formal greeting, and then Sheriam reminds Nynaeve of something else she'd told her on the way down here. She must go through this all naked. She strips, placing her dress and stockings in a neat pile, with Lan's ring hidden inside it.

“The first time,” Sheriam said, “is for what was. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.” Nynaeve hesitated. Then she stepped forward, through the arch and into the glow. It surrounded her, as if the air itself were shining, as if she were drowning in light. The light was everywhere. The light was everything.

Nynaeve stands in a giant stone maze. She wonders how she got here, and a voice in her head repeats, “The way out will come but once.” She remembers playing mazes on paper as a child, there was a trick to them, but she can't bring it to mind. Her memory seems distant. She makes some turnings, sure there has to be a trick to the maze, but keeps getting lost in dead ends.

She finally uses a trick, going left at the first fork, right at the next, and makes it through a dozen turns before she starts seeing something in the corner of her eye. Eventually a man steps out in front of her, older than old. Aginor. He says she's a pretty one, he'll enjoy her. She realizes she's still naked, and flees, angry and embarrassed. Instinctively, she reaches for the Power, and manages to throw fireballs at him. He does something himself, and lightning leaps from a cloud, directly toward Nynaeve’s heart.

It seemed to her, just for a heartbeat, as if time had suddenly slowed, as though that heartbeat took forever. She felt the flow inside her—saidar, came a distant thought—felt the answering flow in the lightning. And she altered the direction of the flow. Time leaped forward. With a crash, the bolt shattered stone above Aginor’s head. The Forsaken’s sunken eyes widened, and he tottered back. “You cannot! It cannot be!” He leaped away as lightning struck where he had stood, stone erupting in a fountain of shards. Grimly Nynaeve started toward him. And Aginor fled.

The ground is rumbling under her feet, saidar racing through her, and she can feel Aginor doing something, too, though she can't understand it. Something gleams to her right, uncovered by the collapsing walls. She knows that if she lets Aginor go now, he'll chase after her stronger than before, believing she's too weak to defeat him after all. A silver arch radiates softly, where a wall had been. The way back will come but once. Aginor disappears behind a mound of stone. It will take time to find him again.

She turns back, and is relieved to see the arch still there. She considers how quickly she might find Aginor, but rushes toward the arch, and swears that whoever is responsible for putting her there, she'll make them wish they got what Aginor got from her. She steps through...

...and remembers what she's doing, back in the Tower sub-sub-basement room. Memory is like a physical bow, rushing back to her.

The Red sister raised one of the silver chalices high and poured a stream of cool, clear water over Nynaeve’s head. “You are washed clean of what sin you may have done,” the Aes Sedai intoned, “and of those done against you. You are washed clean of what crime you may have committed, and of those committed against you. You come to us washed clean and pure, in heart and soul.”(4) Nynaeve shivered as the water ran down her body, dripping on the floor.

Sheriam looks relieved, and leads her to another arch. Nynaeve asks if it was real, and Sheriam replies that no-one knows. Some bear the wounds taken inside when they come out, some are cut to the bone and show no injury when they step back out.

Nynaeve mentions remembering how to channel, and Sheriam is surprised. You shouldn't be able to remember how to channel inside. This ter'angreal was found during the Trolloc Wars. The first Aes Sedai to enter it was warded, and remembered how to channel, and her abilities burned to nothing, she couldn't even sense the True Source afterward.

Sheriam tells Nynaeve that she must not channel, if she can try to remember that, as they get to the second arch.

“The second time is for what is. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.” Nynaeve stared at the shining silver arch. What is in there this time? The others were waiting, watching. She stepped firmly through into the light.

Nynaeve is wearing a plain brown dress. The way back will come but once.

She's on the village green in Emond's Field, and she smiles until she sees the inn, which has fallen vastly into disrepair. Cenn Buie comes out of it, remarks that she's back, and tells her she should leave again, spitting at her feet. She enters the inn, and finds Marin al'Vere wiping a table, looking years older than Nyn remembers. When she sees Nyn, she asks if she's brought Egwene back. No, Nyn can hardly remember, but she hasn't brought her back, that much is sure.

Bran is dead. The new Wisdom, Malena, is a bully who’s been using poison to solve her problems. Cenn’s no doubt gone to find her to deal with Nyn, if he saw her. There's more to the terrible things Malena might be doing. The way back will come but once. Nynaeve tells Marin the Women's Circle should unite against her. Marin says maybe... maybe Corin Ayellin will help. Nynaeve manages to get Marin halfway to Corin's house, when they come across Malena, slashing the heads off weeds with a willow switch.

Nyn looks over her shoulder and sees the silver arch between two houses. The way back will come but once. Marin screams softly that Malena’s seen them. She’s walking toward them now, smiling cruelly. Marin tells Nyn they have to run, but Nyn remembers that the arch is important. She tells herself it’s not real, unclear if that’s about the village or the arch. Nyn tears her arm free of Marin’s grip, and abandons her to Malena’s cruelty as Nyn plunges into the arch.

The glow envelops her, and she staggers out of the arch, barely aware of the chamber or the Aes Sedai.

She did not flinch when cold water was suddenly poured over her head. “You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul.” As the Red Aes Sedai stepped back, Sheriam came to take Nynaeve’s arm. Nynaeve gave a start, then realized who it was. She seized the collar of Sheriam’s dress in both hands. “Tell me it was not real. Tell me!” “Bad?” Sheriam pried her hands loose as if she were used to this reaction. “It is always worse, and the third is the worst of all.”

When Nyn says she left her people in danger to come back, Sheriam explains further. There is always some reason not to come back, something to prevent or distract. It weaves traps for your own mind. That is why it is used as a test. You have to want to be Aes Sedai more than anything else in the world, they cannot accept less.(5)

“The third time,” Sheriam intoned formally, “is for what will be. The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.” Nynaeve threw herself at the arch in a run.

Nynaeve laughs and frolics in a hilltop meadow. Below the hill, the Thousand Lakes spread through the city of Malkier. The city has a thousand gardens, but she prefers this hilltop. The way back will come but once.

She turns at hoofbeats, and Lan jumps off his horse and kisses her.

She gaped at him, taken by surprise when he gathered her into his arms and kissed her. For a moment she clung to him, lost, kissing him back. Her feet dangled a foot in the air, and she did not care. Suddenly she pushed at him, pulled her face back. “No.” She pushed harder. “Let me go. Put me down.” Puzzled, he lowered her until her feet touched ground; she backed away from him. “Not this,” she said. “I cannot face this. Anything but this.” Please, let me face Aginor again. Memory swirled. Aginor? She did not know where that thought had come from. Memory lurched and tilted, shifting fragments like broken ice on a flooding river. She clawed for the pieces, clawed for something to hang on to. “Are you well, my love?” Lan asked worriedly. “Do not call me that! I am not your love! I cannot marry you!” He startled her by throwing back his head and roaring with laughter. “Your implication that we are not married might upset our children, wife. And how are you not my love? I have no other, and will have no other.” “I must go back.” Desperately she looked for the arch, found only meadow and sky. Harder than steel and more deadly than poison. Lan. Lan’s babies. Light, help me! “I must go back now.”

Slowly, Nynaeve starts to fall into the temptation and the memory failure of the ter'angreal, then fights back out, looking for the arch. She sees it, behind him, but can’t make her feet move. Lan gives more details of the life they have here together. He says he doesn’t know what’s bothering her, but he will try to set it right. She says he’s the best of husbands, and remembers their life together. The joy and the tears, the arguments and the making up. They grow the more she lets herself think them. But the way back will come but once.

Lan says he feels he’s losing her lately, and he can’t bear it. He begs her to stay with him, always. She wants to… but when she opens her eyes again, the arch is gone. She yells that this isn’t real, startling Lan. Then, she realizes she could stay there, but nothing has changed. Egwene alone in the Tower, Rand will channel the Power and go mad, and Perrin and Mat... And Moiraine, who tore up their lives, walks free.

“I must go back,” she whispered. Unable to bear the pain on his face, she pulled free of him. Deliberately she formed a flower bud in her mind, a white bud on a blackthorn branch. She made the thorns sharp and cruel, wishing they could pierce her flesh, feeling as if she already hung in the blackthorn’s branches. Sheriam Sedai’s voice danced just out of hearing, telling her it was dangerous to attempt to channel the Power. The bud opened, and saidar filled her with light. “Nynaeve, tell me what is the matter.” Lan’s voice slid across her concentration; she refused to let herself hear it. There had to be a way back still. Staring at where the silver arch had been, she tried to find some trace of it. There was nothing. “Nynaeve . . .” She tried to picture the arch in her mind, to shape it and form it to the last detail, curve of gleaming metal filled with a glow like snowy fire. It seemed to waver there, in front of her, first there between her and the trees, then not, then there. “. . . I love you . . .” She drew at saidar, drinking in the flow of the One Power till she thought she would burst. The radiance filling her, shining around her, hurt her own eyes. The heat seemed to consume her. The flickering arch firmed, steadied, stood whole before her. Fire and pain seemed to fill her; her bones felt as if they were burning; her skull seemed a roaring furnace. “. . . with all my heart.” She ran toward the silver curve, not letting herself look back. She had been sure the bitterest thing she would ever hear was Marin al’Vere’s cry for help as Nynaeve abandoned her, but that was honey beside the sound of Lan’s anguished voice pursuing her. “Nynaeve, please don’t leave me.”(6) The white glow consumed her.

Nynaeve staggers through the arch, falling to her knees, crying as hard as she ever has in her life. She yells that she hates them, all Aes Sedai. Sheriam says that almost every woman who endures this says much the same.

Sheriam suddenly turns Nynaeve's hands over, and there are two great blackthorns stuck in her, one in each palm, centered.(7)

Sheriam frowned. “There shouldn’t be any scarring. And how did you only get two, and both placed so precisely? If you tangled yourself in a blackthorn bush, you should be covered with scratches and thorns.” “I should,” Nynaeve agreed bitterly. “Maybe I thought I had already paid enough.” “There is always a price,” the Aes Sedai agreed. “Come, now. You have paid the first price. Take what you have paid for.” She gave Nynaeve a slight push forward. Nynaeve realized there were more Aes Sedai in the chamber. The Amyrlin in her striped stole was there, with a shawled sister from each Ajah ranged to either side of her, all of them watching Nynaeve. Remembering Sheriam’s instruction, Nynaeve tottered forward and knelt before the Amyrlin. It was she who held the last chalice, and she tipped it slowly over Nynaeve’s head. “You are washed clean of Nynaeve al'Meara from Emond’s Field. You are washed clean of all ties that bind you to the world. You come to us washed clean, in heart and soul. You are Nynaeve al’Meara, Accepted of the White Tower.” Handing the chalice to one of the sisters, the Amyrlin drew Nynaeve to her feet. “You are sealed to us, now.” The Amyrlin’s eyes seemed to hold a dark glow. Nynaeve’s shiver had nothing to do with being naked and wet.(8)

=====

(1) This is the sort of thing she'd have learned, if she'd gone through the normal process of being a novice before raising, as Sheriam says in a few pages. Still, it's interesting to start the chapter with Nynaeve's ignorance about the world she's entering. (2) Finally, we get the Oaths in something approaching their proper phrasing. Humour me now, take a minute, and think about these. How many loopholes can you see? To speak no word that is not true? Well, unless you believe it to be true, or unless you don't purport it to be truth. "Here I am known as Alys, and Lan as Andra." All it takes is "You may call me Mistress Alys." That's not a lie, you can call her anything, her name isn't required. No wonder Tam and Thom went on about Aes Sedai's words not being the truth you think you hear. To make no weapon with which one man can kill another? That doesn't say anything about women's weapons or things to kill Darkspawn, unless you get each and every Aes Sedai firmly into the mindset that any weapon could be picked up by a man and could be used against another man. And use of the Power itself as a weapon? Well, you could put yourself into danger and open a pretty big loophole, or if you convince yourself the person you're using it against is a Darkfriend whether they are or not. Any others? (3) Which makes sense. Even if you can see loopholes in the phrasing, limits on the ability to lie and use the Power against others are some insurance against your fears that those with power will only seek to use it against you. (4) You can see the "high church" inspiration from RJ's life in the rituals like these. Formal greetings and purifications. Why does the first arch stand for what was, why does Nynaeve need to be purified of crimes committed against her before she can gain membership? Just because that's the way it's always been. But before we start ranting about the farcical shallowness of it… consider whether RJ is setting up to make a point in that direction, and whether I'd be 15 years deep in this fandom if it didn't do something more complex and interesting with each and every detail of its worldbuilding. (5) How odd that they have a ter'angreal from an entirely different age with different social mores, that nevertheless they've shaped into this ritual because it suits their needs so perfectly. (6) My poor girl. (7) My poor girl picked up STIGMATA WOUNDS for her trouble. Good gracious. (8) Yeah, that's not ominous at all. She's part of them now, for better or worse.

[fishalthor]

rewatching before friday and seeing lan and moraine interact with the emonds field five in s1 is soo funny they like ".......these fuckin hicks dont even know what manetheren is......."

right??? like, we should have gotten a whole scene with this. in the show we should have gotten something like AFTER the 'weep for manetheren' scene and they're sitting around the fire and the kids are like "did you hear that? what does manetheren have to do with us?" and Lan and Moiraine are just sitting there staring DAGGERS at them lol and Lan is SO tempted to just leave these kids.

MOIRAINE, NONE OF THESE KIDS CAN BE THE DRAGON. THEY'RE JUST STUPID HICKS

[droughtofapathy]

The Gilded Age's Broadway Divas: Clara Barton (Linda Emond)

Based on the real-life historical figure, Clara Barton spends half of season one drumming up money to get her field hospital operational. Presumably she is off doing important work during season two while all the ladies piddle, twiddle, and resolve about the opera.

I will be honest. I know Linda Emond primarily for her straight play work, so I was wholly unfamiliar with her singing until making this series. And now that I'm listening to it, I'm a little in love. As is often the case for me. But I digress.

Linda Emond is a three-time Tony nominee for her work in Death of a Salesman (Linda Loman), Cabaret (Fraulein Schneider), and Life (x) 3 (Inez). The 2014 Cabaret revival did not receive a cast album (probably owing to Alan Cumming reprising his role) so there is no recording of Linda singing "So What?" and I'm furious about it.

#1: "Yours, Yours, Yours," & "Compliments," 1776 (1997)

Linda Emond made her Broadway debut as Abigail Adams in the 1997 revival of 1776. As one of two female characters in the show, Abigail appears sporadically, writing letters to her husband and generally being an encouraging wife to this founding father. Eventually, Linda was replaced by Carolee Carmello (who, according to a Facebook comment, couldn't even get an audition for Gilded Age, and that's a crime unto itself).

Another Gilded Age actress who has placed Abigail Adams, though not in 1776, is Donna Murphy, who voiced this character on the Liberty Kids show we all know and love.

#2: "He Always Comes Homes to Me," John Kander – Hidden Treasures, 1950-2015 (2015)

I need you to understand what a deep cut this is. The Kander Hidden Treasures album features nearly fifty tracks, most consisting of demos with Kander himself laying down the songs. It is a marvel of a CD set for those of us who love the theatre, and includes a 64-page booklet with detailed notes about each song. In it, a select few songs have been newly recorded. Linda Emond appears on one from a show called All About Us.

And now I need to go on a tangent about this show. A musical based on Thorton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, it held its first workshop in 1996 with Debra Monk (hello, Miss Armstrong) and Bernadette Peters in the cast, and later moved to staging in 1999 with Linda Emond, and Bebe Neuwirth as Sabina (a role originated in the play by Tallulah Bankhead). However, shortly before it opened, Bebe was fired and replaced by Sherie Rene Scott. I have no details about why or how or what they were thinking, but back in those days, people only saw her as the "frigid" Lilith on Cheers, and I need to stop before poor Linda Emond's post becomes just a five paragraph tirade in defense of Bebe Neuwirth.

At any rate, the musical was abandoned in 2004 following Fred Ebb's death, and though it had a brief resurgence in 2007 with Eartha Kitt and Karen Ziemba, it has since largely disappeared. But thanks to this recording, we have at least some of the music.

LINK TO MASTERPOST

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 38: Practice

While this particular picture was of course taken by Entertainment Weekly, it comes to me by way of "hotzxgirl.com" and was labeled "Eye of the Tar Valon | Hot sex picture". Spoiler alert! Unless you have a lot of very specific fetishes, this is not a hot sex picture. It also doesn't even depict anything that happens in this chapter, but that's not going to stop me is it? What might stop you if you don't like spoilers is the knowledge that if you keep reading, you consent (in a hot and sexy way?) to get all sorts Wheel of Time spoilers from all over the series.

This chapter has a Flame of Tar Valon icon now that we're back in Tar Valon. It's been awhile! Four or five in-world months and like... fourteen chapters, I think?

She knew how easy it was to touch saidar now. She could always feel it there, waiting for her, like the smell of perfume or the feel of silk, drawing her, drawing her. And once she did touch it, she could rarely stop from channeling, or at least trying to. She failed almost as often as she succeeded, but that was only another spur to keep on.

Untainted, saidar is naturally a much bigger draw for channelers than its twin. It's also a great mindset Egwene has as a student, especially since she is also a bit concerned by her growing addiction as well. Unlike Rand, she knows damn well she's going to be a daily user.

Three short paces took Nynaeve from wall to white-plastered wall; Nynaeve’s own room was much larger, but since she had made no friends among the other Accepted, she came to Egwene’s room when she needed someone to talk to, even as now when she did not talk at all.

This is such a mood.

“Else was making calf’s eyes at Galad today while he was working with the Warders,” Min said, rocking the stool on two legs.

It's funny how Min so naturally recreates the described conditions of Emond's Field for Egwene, being the latest eyes-and-ears reporting on a woman's movement towards the gentleman Egwene has picked.

It's also clear build-up for that pairing that Jordan abandoned later on down the line in favor of Egwene/Gawyn and Galad/Berelain. It's nice and somewhat more realistic though, that unlike most of the other main characters, Egwene doesn't find her true suitor immediately.

He’d hurt a person because he had to serve a greater good. He wouldn’t even notice who was hurt, because he’d be so intent on the other, but if he did, he would expect them to understand and think it was all well and right.

This is the thing that separates Galad from being an actual fucking saint, the way his big picture focus hides him from the little details.

War in Cairhien. War on Toman Head. They may have caught the false Dragon in Saldaea, but there’s still war in Tear. Most of it is rumors, anyway.

A nod to the Gospel of Matthew, which says that a sign of the end times is wars and rumors of wars. Guess this is just what you have to expect from all the comings of Rand.

She had not dreamed about him in months, now, not the kind of dreams she had had on the River Queen. Anaiya still made her write down everything she dreamed, and the Aes Sedai checked them for signs, or connections to events, but there was never anything about Rand except dreams that, Anaiya said, meant she missed him. Oddly, she felt almost as if he were not there any longer, as if he had ceased to exist, along with her dreams, a few weeks after reaching the White Tower.

Obviously it's a bit silly to talk about abandoned ideas UNDER abandoned ideas, but one wonders if Jordan had originally intended for Egwene to stop being a dreamer at the end of the series, the way her initial foray here is so intimately tied to Rand's presence in the world.

That sent a chill through her, as it never failed to do, the thought of Rand being gentled, Rand weeping and wanting to die as Logain did.

Here the reader is reminded that though there's Mirror Worlds out there where Egwene gentles or kills Rand, they're not her true self and in any case those Egwenes were probably just as devastated as the real one would be to be backed into such a corner.

“I’m sorry, Min,” Nynaeve said in a tight voice. “Sometimes my temper. . . . I can’t ask you to forgive me, not for this.” She took a deep breath. “If you want to report me to Sheriam, I will understand. I deserve it.”

A nice bit that shows that Nynaeve's a good person who just has some issues, but it's also funny to note that Nynaeve is demonstrating she's exactly the sort of person Galad assumes everyone would be under the circumstances.

With murmurs of “forgiven” that sounded meant on both sides, the two women hugged.

Gosh Nyneve and Min are fun together. It's a real shame they won't really get to hang out much until Rand's practically having his Sith armor made.

A man who drove oxen as hard as they drive us would be shunned. I am tired all the time. I wake up tired and go to bed exhausted, and sometimes I’m so afraid that I will slip and channel more of the Power than I can handle that I. . . .

I expect that training in the AoL was still rigorous but nowhere near as exhausting and that much as battlefield first aid is the only kind of Healing still left, the only sorts of instruction that survived through the Breaking were something like the Hell Week stints before final examinations. And then naturally they never bothered to see if there was a less grueling method.

“The Traveling People are tempting,” Nynaeve agreed, “but wherever you go, it will not change what you can do. You cannot run from saidar.” She did not sound as if she liked what she was saying.

Somewhere far away, Moiraine is laughing and she doesn't know why.

Min shifted on her stool. “I don’t like reading friends,” she muttered. “Friendship gets in the way of the reading. It makes me try to put the best face on what I see. That’s why I don’t do it for you three anymore. Anyway, nothing has changed about you that I can. . . .”

Poor Min probably's been burned once or twice with a friend she thought she could trust with the secret of her power, only for the thirst for knowledge to overcome any actual relationship. It must really suck now that her friends aren't just channelers, who always have omens, but specifically the plot relevant ones.

Before she reached it, though, a dark-eyed Aes Sedai with her blond hair done in a multitude of braids stepped into the room. Egwene blinked in surprise, as much at it being any Aes Sedai as at Liandrin. She had not heard that Liandrin had returned to the White Tower, but beyond that, novices were sent for if an Aes Sedai wanted them; it could mean no good, a sister coming herself.

Especially not since the danger omen probably triggered specifically the moment Liandrin set out to the rooms.

“Do you have some word of Rand?” Egwene asked eagerly. Liandrin arched an eyebrow at her. “Forgive me, Aes Sedai. I forget myself.” “Have you word of them?” Nynaeve said, just short of a demand. The Accepted had no rule about not speaking to an Aes Sedai until spoken to.

1. Egwene why would you think a Red showing up to give you news about Rand is something to ask after eagerly?

2. Nynaeve would have acted exactly the same way she does here even if she were a Novice.

“Someday, I am sure, you will serve a cause, and you will learn then that to serve it you must work even with those whom you dislike. I tell you I have worked with many with whom I would not share a room if it were left to me alone. Would you not work alongside the one you hated worst, if it would save your friends?”

I wonder which Black sisters in particular Liandrin doesn't like. Are the 12 who run off with her included? Any non Red/Black combo?

(Also by "Someday, I am sure, you will serve a cause," she means "Next Tuesday at the latest you'll be slaves", just saying.)

You two come from their village. In some way I do not entirely understand, you are connected to them. Beyond that, I cannot say.

Surprisingly, all of this is entirely truthful. I mean, yeah the first sentence is obvious, but the second sentence means "I am not able to question my masters as to why you're important but they say you are" and the third sentence means "I'm bound by the Oath Rod not to betray their secrets anyway".

“You have my permission. Tell no one. No one at all. The Black Ajah walks the halls of the White Tower.”

Speaking of being bound not to reveal secrets, there's three options for how she pulls this off:

1. The straightforward one is what she says below, that with Tarmon Gai'don approaching this can't be denied any longer. Presumably this would be an executive decision by Ishamael or at least Alviarin and not something Liandrin is able to decide on her own.

2. Her explanation is merely a way of hiding her allegiance. The truth is she knows that Siuan and Moiraine know about the Black Ajah and possibly others and thus she no longer considers the Ajah's existing a secret that has to be held close.

3. As above, but instead of Siuan and Moiraine being the catalysts, Liandrin feels that the certainty of these girls dying as damane, utterly cut off from any way to spread the knowledge, still counts as holding the secret close and thus she can disclose it. As this is the closest to traditional "villain monologuing to a hero caught in a death trap", it's my preferred one.

“She is Aes Sedai,” Nynaeve said dryly. “I’ll wager my best silver pin against a blueberry that every word she said was true. But I wonder if we heard what we thought we did.”

Quite possibly everything she said was true, which means that the Black Ajah has been getting ahold of any letters Moiraine is sending to Siuan in confidence. Pretty alarming how deep the rot goes!

I can’t even go for a walk without the Amyrlin herself popping out and asking me to read whoever we see. When that woman asks you to do something, there doesn’t seem to be any way out of it. I must have read half the White Tower for her, but she always wants another demonstration.

Siuan is probably trying to get a handle on what's going to happen in the Tower in the lead up to the Last Battle, though unfortunately Min's symbols are far too esoteric for them to make any sense of at this point - and don't show up until they're set in stone anyway. Whatever hopes she had of Black Ajah hunting by this method must be roundly dashed by now.

I’ll bet we won’t either of us cry ourselves to sleep on an adventure.

And here comes dramatic irony with the steel chair!

I can see the danger around all of you more clearly, now. Not clearly enough to make it out, but I think it has something to do with you deciding to go. That’s why it is clearer; because it is more certain.

I think Min's on the right track but missing a little bit here. The certainty is tied to the vector of danger: Liandrin and the Seanchan. If the girls did refuse, ran to Sheriam, and told all, they might not leave the Tower at all (at least not Elayne; maybe not the others if Sheriam's out of the loop about Liandrin) and would instead have the uncertain danger of the backup plan of the Black Ajah looming over them instead.

However much she might argue beforehand, once a course of action had been decided, Nynaeve always went right to the practicalities: what they had to take with them, and how cold it would be by the time they reached Toman Head, and how they could get their horses from the stables without being stopped.

Being Village Wisdom, the only way to be effective is to worry about the practicalities, even if the woolheads on the Village Council have decided to do something stupid and won't listen to you. It'll be a trait that helps her out later too, when she's a queen.

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

Now that I've finished The Path of Daggers and Winter's Heart, we're gonna update the Most Based Wheel of Time Character List:

10 - Min: While I don't mind Aviendha, Aviendha is also the sworn sister of the nost cringe character in the series, making her cringe by association. Min not being totally cringe (and her really cool power and supporting Rand without trying to control him) gets her the number 10 spot.

9 - Perrin: It's not Perrin's fault he got burdened with a filler arc. Saving his wife is a worthy goal that shows loyalty and caring for her, but reading the parts where he's just tracking her down in Winter's Heart, coming off the high of his performance in The Path of Daggers, really lost him some points.

8 - Lan: As much as Lan is a Wife Guy, he's also willing to help summarily execute people who tried to kill the man who was, for a time, his friend. He also stands up to The Dragon Reborn despite knowing what he can do, which shows courage, a based property.

7 - Davram Bashere: One of Rand's best men, Bashere is also willing to call Rand out when he does something deplorable, like his use of Callandor resulting in the wanton slaughter of Rand's own men. Rand trusts him completely, and such loyalty is pretty based. He'd cracked the top five no problem if it weren't for the fierce competition he faces.

6: Lews Therin: The Original Dragon. His moments of increasing lucidity provide some of the most interesting lines in the series thus far. The fact that he's growing more and more aware of Rand, and thinks Rand is a madman (including the line "I would not mind you in my head, if you were not so clearly mad") add an absolutely fascinating aspect to the series, and I'm excited to see what happens next.

5 - Birgette: She's a badass, despite being bonded to the most cringe character in the franchise. She also acts as said character's moral compass.

4 - Nynaeve: Of the Emond's Field Folk who left in the first book, she's the only one who has kept her eyes on the prize. Her original goals were to 1) protect Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Egwene, and she has continued to do so in one way or another for most of the series (being forcibly separated from Mat after being the only person to treat him with empathy at the climax of A Crown of Swords doesn't count against her). Of all the Aes Sedai in the world, Rand trusts only her to link with him to cleanse said saidin, a moment of extreme vulnerability. Her other goal, to learn to Heal with saidar, has been accomplished, along with her secondary goal of marrying Lan.

3 - Rand: Rand being willing to sacrifice his own life to cleanse saidin, and pulling it off, was pretty based. While his descent into madness isn't great, he's also an absolute badass who takes so much punishment throught the series that when he's bonded to Min, Aviendha, and Elayne they all gasp in astonishment at the pain he constantly carries with him. Also, him telling Alanna to fuck off was enormously rewarding, especially when he tells her what everyone else has been thinking about her forcibly bonding him.

2 - Moiraine: Has she been dead for thousands of pages? Yes. Did she teach Rand most of what he knows about politics? Yes. Did she Gandalf one of the Foresaken? Yes. Is she the first person on Rand's list of women who's deaths are on him, one he chants like a litany, showing that her mourns her death? Yes. The first three make her based and the last shows her impact on Rand.

1 - Matrim fucking Cauthon: He's got the loyalty of his men, even when he's away from them. He almost died saving his adopted son. He engineers a plan to escape an occupied city in a way that prioritizes said son's safety. He escapes his relationship with his abuser. All cement his place at the top of his list, making him tbe reigning champion and most based character.

[imaginerhetoric]

I’m rereading The Wheel of Time and it’s really cool to see what stands out now that I know the whole story and can consider the story telling.

One thing I’m thinking about this time is the way that no one is infallible. In other fantasy, we frequently have someone who knows things, and that person is correct in their understanding/interpretation.

For example, Gandalf understands the history and consequences of the one ring. Elrond and Galadriel and the other elves know what has happened and can see what will happen. (With caveats)

But in Wheel of Time, we don’t have a class, “race”, or even an individual who knows things in this way.

You’d think it’s the Aes Sedai. But nope. The Aes Sedai are shocked that the Hunt for the Horn is called, among many other things they don’t know or think they understand but misinterpret.

Next up is our “Gandalf” character. Moiraine has spent over half her life studying the prophecies and trying to find the Dragon but she doesn’t know how those prophecies will be fulfilled. After all, it took her 20 years to sort out that Born of the dragons people and raised by the old blood meant born of Aiel and raised in Manetheran.

Surely the Amyrlin Seat though? But nope. The Amyrlin Seat isn’t the ultimate knowledge. Siuan, has spent half her life studying the prophecies and collecting any scraps of information to puzzle out what to expect and she’s wrong. Wrong about requirements for the horn and so much else. But it’s not only Siuan, Tamara before her had so many false interpretations and gaps.

I feel like I missed a lot of this in initial reading because most of our POV is from the younger generation. The Emonds Field five and even Elayne to some degree expect the “adults” to have the answers even while they’re rebelling against listening to those adults. (Which is a whole other thing I’m thinking through)

But the lack of a “source of infallible truth” is perfect for the themes about myth & legend. Over and over we see the way history gets twisted within legends and myths that are misinterpreted. And then those legends and myths are used as keys to understanding prophecy, but with our already confused starting point things get even more jumbled.

While I’d personally find the story more enjoyable from the older generation POV, the younger POV makes for an interesting experience to have the reader experience yet another layer of interpretation happening as we read.

[markantonys]

i know it's not book-accurate at all, but a part of me is hoping that by some miracle the emond's field five (along with potential allies) will all reunite to rescue egwene from the seanchan. will probably never happen, but it would be amazing to see them all in the same place at least once <3

i completely agree!!! and it's not totally outside the realm of possibility, since we know everybody will end up at falme by the end of the season - maybe the other 4 will cross paths in time to join up together to rescue egwene. even if not and she gets free before the girls run into the boys, i feel pretty certain we'll get at least one full ef5 scene by the end of the season because the show so far seems MUCH more invested in that dynamic and its emotional weight than the books did, and according to book plotlines this would be the last chance to have all 5 of them together in one place until the last battle (although i would welcome the show making some changes to allow various characters to spend more time together! one thing about me is that i have almost no loyalty whatsoever to the books haha so i'm always 100% willing, nay, EAGER for the show to make many changes and big changes)