The Wheel of Time: Book Seven, A Crown of Swords

If you’d prefer to watch/listen to this post, check out the video version here:

Wow, it’s been about two months since the last post! Since covering Lord of Chaos, I started a YouTube channel and made videos for all of my The Wheel of Time posts. I still plan on writing out these posts as I was before, but going forward, I’ll also create a video for anyone who would prefer to watch/listen rather than read. If you haven’t seen the channel yet, definitely check it out!

My wife and I also got a new puppy! Here he is going for a walk (he hasn’t had all his shots yet so he’s not allowed to walk on the ground outside.) On top of that, I also built a new computer for myself and helped my mom and brother move across the country so they can live closer to me. It’s been a pretty crazy couple of months (^-^);

But, we’re not here to talk about YouTube or puppies; we’re here to talk about A Crown of Swords.

As a reminder, this is a response to the book. Think of it as a companion, something to read after reading the book if you want to spend more time thinking about it. There will be spoilers. If you haven’t read the book yet, go do that before reading this post.

Contents

1. Summary
2. The Point: Balance
3. Egwene
4. Elaida
5. Elayne
6. Mat
7. Morgase
8. Moghedien
9. Moridin
10. Nynaeve
11. Rand
12. Outro

Summary

• Tar Valon
  • Elaida has continued to consolidate her power. She’s constructing an immense (perhaps unrealistically immense) palace for herself. She’s also been punishing Aes Sedai simply to prove that she can, which is how Teslyn and Joline wind up in Ebou Dar. Her thinking has become more and more paranoid and arrogant, seeing enemies everywhere. Though, her Keeper – Alviarin – truly is of the Black Ajah, so perhaps it’s not all paranoia.
  • Alviarin serves the Forsaken Mesaana, who always hides her face; Alviarin suspects that Mesaana lives in the Tower.
  • In chapter 32, Elaida finally learns how poorly her plan to capture Rand went. In particular, she’s shocked to learn that only twelve out of the thirty nine Aes Sedai sent have returned: she could be deposed and stilled for this. Alviarin seizes this chance to make her move by “helping” Elaida clean things up. Alviarin’s plan seems to be to stir up conflict between the Green Ajah and the Brown, Gray, and Yellow by severely punishing two Greens for fairly minor offenses while rewarding a Brown, Gray, and Yellow. Elaida, in a panic, initially acquiesces, but quickly turns her suspicion on Alviarin, commanding Seaine – sitter of the White Ajah – to look for a traitor “even to the Keeper herself.” Seaine deduces that the true command here is to root out the Black Ajah. Though this command is Sealed to the Flame, Seaine goes to a friend – Pevara – in the Red Ajah for help. Pevara isn’t a Red for a hatred of men but for a hatred of Darkfriends.
  • Elaida fantasizes about adding a fourth oath to the Aes Sedai: an oath of fealty to the Amyrlin Seat.
  • Elaida has a Foretelling: “The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole and stronger than ever. Rand al’Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds. This I Foretell.” She assumes that she is the Amyrlin Seat in this prophesy, but it sure seems like it’ll be Egwene.
  • Gawyn doesn’t show up much this book, but we know that he escaped Dumai’s Wells and gathered the surviving Younglings with him.
• Shaido Aiel
  • Though defeated at Dumai’s Wells, the Shaido regroup. Sevanna still leads them and her hunger for power continues to grow. Some of her Wise Ones are clearly upset, but none have moved to stop her.
  • Sammael and Graendal have been meeting with Sevanna with the names Caddar and Maisia. Though Sevanna failed to capture Rand, Sammael continues to tempt Sevanna with gifts and the promise of a tool to control Rand if she can capture him. In addition to the strangely marked cube, he provides her with an Oath Rod. Someone capable of channeling the True Power (likely Moridin) spies on Sammael and Graendal.
  • Sevanna plans to keep her gai’shain forever as slaves and she plans to have more than anyone else ever has. She also plans to enslave an Aes Sedai so she can channel.
  • In chapter 40, Sammael gives Sevanna and the Shaido a number of “nar’baha” to Travel with. The Shaido plan to regroup in a better location, away from Rand’s armies, but it’s a trap: Sammael himself creates the gateways and scatters the Shaido to be defeated. He seems to want to hide his involvement. Graendal notes that Sevanna took all of the women who could channel with her, so though the Shaido may be mostly dissolved, Sevanna is still a force with many women who can channel and an Oath Rod.
  • Sevannah has Galina declared da’tsang and dressed in black.
• Morgase and The Children of the Light
  • Morgase begins the book still Pedron Niall’s prisoner, hoping for his support in retaking Andor.
  • Pedron Niall is assassinated during the prologue in a plot by Lord Captain Eamon Valda (now Lord Captain Commander) and High Inquisitor Rhadam Asunawa. Just before the assassination, Niall received a message indicating a great threat (likely the Seanchan) but he doesn’t get a chance to share the warning, despite trying to hand it to the very people who murdered him.
  • The real spymaster, Balwer, isn’t known to Asunawa or Valda, who see him as nothing more than a spineless secretary.
  • Morgase is tortured by Asunawa, who hates her for her affiliation with the Aes Sedai, and she is raped by Valda, who just seems like a thug.
  • Amador is conquered by the Seanchan. Suroth speaks with Morgase directly, telling her that she may yet rule Andor for the Seanchan Empress while showing her the alternative, as she displays that Amathera – former Panarch of Tarabon (who we remember from when Nynaeve and Elayne traveled there) – is now an enslaved dancer.
  • Morgase speaks the words to abdicate the throne and pass it to Elayne. Nobody else heard her say this, but she seems to take the words very seriously nonetheless.
  • Balwer helps Morgase and her party escape.
• Egwene’s Rebel Tower
  • Egwene continues to rule as Amyrlin of the group from Salidar, who are now marching towards Tar Valon. She continues to struggle with the most powerful women in the Hall and her Keeper – Romanda, Lelaine, and Sheriam – who all mean to manipulate her as a puppet. They are all quickly discovering that bullying really doesn’t work on Egwene at all.
  • Gareth Bryne still gathers forces and prepares to siege Tar Valon with a plan he believes will work. Egwene realizes that Bryne has essentially given the loyalty of his forces to Egwene specifically, rather than to the Hall or the rebel Aes Sedai as a whole.
  • Egwene has made Theodrin, Faolain, Myrelle, and Nisao swear oaths of fealty directly to her. Strong oaths that anyone but a Darkfriend would keep, but anyone subject to the three oaths literally could not break them. This shocks Siuan; no Amyrlin has done this before even in the secret histories. Recall that Elaida fantasized about adding an oath of fealty to the Amyrlin Seat to the Aes Sedai three oaths.
  • Egwene does not plan to have the Aes Sedai bow to Rand but she does plan to create closer ties with the Aiel Wise Ones.
  • Egwene wants to Travel directly to Rand and talk things out, but one of the only strict limits to her power is that the Amyrlin Seat cannot leave without permission from the Hall.
  • Lan arrives at Myrelle, who Moiraine had his bond changed to when she died. For a Warder, losing the bonded Aes Sedai is extremely damaging, mentally, and Lan is not well. Myrelle plans to give his bond to Nynaeve eventually, but Egwene skims him near Ebou Dar immediately, feeling that Lan needs a mission he cares about: protecting Nynaeve.
• Moghedien
  • Moghedien is freed by Aran’gar (Halima) and skims to the Pit of Doom, where she is met by Shaidar Haran (the strange Myrddraal.)
  • Moghedien is punished for her failure and for helping Shai’Tan’s enemies. Her core self is drawn into a “cour’souvra” or mind trap, a tiny, fragile cage of gold wire and crystal. Breaking this mindtrap would separate her core self from her body: “she would still see with her eyes and hear with her ears, taste what crossed her tongue and feel what touched her, but helpless within an automaton that was utterly obedient to whoever held the cour’souvra.”
  • After some time being held in a vacuole – a tiny bubble in the pattern – she is sent to Moridin, a tall, handsome young (appearing) man. He holds her cour’souvra. He also has black flecks in his eyes, a sign that he has channeled the True Power, which comes from Shai’Tan, many times. He acts somewhat polite, but Moghedien is his slave, forced to wear his colors – black and red – which Moghedien recognizes as a form of livery, even if it’s elaborate.
  • While working for Moridin, Moghedien spots Nynaeve and tries to kill her with balefire. Some birds distract her and she misses.
• Ebou Dar
  • Mat, Elayne, Nynaeve, Birgitte, Thom, Juilin, and Mat’s men are still in Ebou Dar while Elayne and Nynaeve look for the bowl ter’angreal, known as the Bowl of the Winds to the Atha’an Miere.
  • Mat discovers that Jaichim Carridin – the Whitecloak who we know to be Bors, the Darkfriend – is serving as ambassador and Inquisitor of the Hand of the Light in Ebou Dar. He has the woman who tried to kill Rand and Mat way back in The Eye of the World with him. She’s an accomplished assassin, currently going by the name “Shiaine” but Carridin knows that her real name is Mili Skane.
  • Carridin serves Pedron Niall as a Whitecloak, but his real master is Sammael, who visits him in Ebou Dar. Carridin knows that Mat is in the city, but Sammael commanded him to focus on his search, presumably for the cache of angreal (and possibly the Bowl of the Wind itself.) Carridin orders Mili to put her entire circle towards Mat anyways. Carridin is a real mess: his family has been killed for his failures and he’s drinking heavily.
  • Nynaeve and Elayne continue to treat Mat unfairly until Birgitte and Aviendha step in. Mat has a productive night of drinking with Birgitte and Aviendha explains that Elayne has incurred toh to Mat. Elayne wants to impress Aviendha, so she works to fix the situation, dragging Nynaeve, reluctantly, along. “To show the depth of our regret, we undertake the following promises. We will not belittle or demean you in any way, nor shout at you for any reason, nor… not attempt to give you orders. Recognizing your due concern for our safety, we will not leave the palace without telling you where we are going, and we will listen to your advice. If you…if you decide that we are… are putting ourselves in needless danger… we will accept bodyguards of your choosing… and keep them with us as long as possible.”
  • Nynaeve and Elayne form a bargain with the Atha’an Miere. We don’t know the full terms (though we do know that negotiations didn’t go well for Nynaeve and Elayne,) but they will help them with the Bowl of the Winds.
  • Elayne and Nynaeve struggle to be taken seriously as Aes Sedai. Even the sisters from Salidar don’t treat them as full Aes Sedai, and of course the two from Elaida don’t either.
  • Elayne and Nynaeve are thought to be runaways from the tower and taken to the Kin, a group of women who can channel who take in some girls and return others to the Tower based on circumstance. They’re surprised to learn that some of these women are very old and powerful, yet they all see themselves as vastly inferior to the Aes Sedai.
  • Queen Tylin repeatedly rapes Mat and continually harasses him even in public. Everyone but Mat thinks this is hilarious or that Mat is somehow at fault.
  • While being attacked by Moghedien, Nynaeve breaks her block, becoming able to channel without being angry. She’s also reunited with Lan and the two quickly marry.
  • Elayne manages to convince the rebel Aes Sedai that her authority supersedes theirs. She meets with the Kin, who have secretly been known to the Aes Sedai, and offers them the chance to join the Aes Sedai under Egwene, which overjoys them. They’re shocked to learn that there are 1,783 Kin, nearly double the number of Aes Sedai. Moreover, Reanne is 411 years old, which is so shocking that Merilille faints when she hears it. Despite feeling inferior to the Aes Sedai, they have some real power and talent.
  • Mat finds the cache (and the Kin knew about it.) Everyone heads to the Rahad to get the Bowl of the Winds. There, they encounter Falion and Ispan – of the Black Ajah – and their men. They battle and win, but in the fighting, a gholam kills several people, including Nalesean. Gholam are immune to the One Power and, seemingly, blades, but Mat chases it off with his foxhead medallion, saving Elayne in the process, who seems truly grateful. Much of the cache was carried off, but they seize some of it, including the Bowl of the Winds.
  • Mat convinces everyone that they need to leave with the bowl and use it elsewhere so they can avoid the gholam, the Forsaken, and the Black Ajah. Nynaeve and Elayne intentionally manipulated him into convincing everyone, which they also wanted.
  • Everyone is preparing to leave when they realize that Olver is missing, probably just playing outside. While searching for him, the Seanchan invade Ebou Dar. The combination of damane and monsters overwhelms the city quickly. A building falls on Mat. We don’t see beyond this point in A Crown of Swords.
• Rand
  • After Dumai’s Wells, Rand surveys the battlefield, counting the fallen Maidens and memorizing each of their names. Everyone is worried about his sanity.
  • Rand gives the Aes Sedai from the Tower to the Wise Ones to manage, where they are being treated more-or-less as Wise Ones in training. The Salidar Aes Sedai are allowed freedom, but they are bound by the oath they swore to him. Throughout the book, Rand must continually fight rumors that he is now a puppet of the Aes Sedai, often by demonstrating that Aes Sedai serve him.
  • In Rand’s absence, Colavaere Saighan took the throne, conspiring with Rand’s kidnappers and murdering her opposition along the way. Faile was in Cairhien at the time and Perrin fears for her safety. Rand, and his followers, enter Cairhien and confront Colavaere directly, in public. In a dramatic moment, Rand breaks and remakes the crown. Throughout the scene, we see Perrin focused solely on protecting Faile and Faile standing at Colavaere’s side without explanation. Rand is outwardly intimidating, but Perrin sees that Rand’s focus is on not having to kill Colavaere. Rand spares her life by stripping her of any nobility and banishing her to a small farm for the rest of her life, which is more shocking than simply killing her to everyone there. Rand is happy at having spared her life, but she later hangs herself. The throne is still being held for Elayne.
  • A very old and powerful Aes Sedai names Cadsuane Melaidhrin arrives to see Rand. She doesn’t seem to care much about the current Aes Sedai troubles, seeing the rebels as foolish for breaking the tower and Elaida as foolish for bring it about. Mostly, she’s frustrated that Elaida’s Aes Sedai made handling Rand far more difficult. Cadsuane plans to take over from here. She goads Rand, testing him, and strikes a nerve when she asks whether he’s started to hear voices yet, as she has experience with men who can channel and hearing voices is a sign of madness. Throughout the book, Rand is terribly anxious that Lews Therin might not be real.
  • Rand and Min learn that Herid Fel is dead. In a moment of desperation, they have sex. Rand later sees this as something terrible that he did, so wracked with guilt that he confines himself to his quarters for days. Min is eventually able to convince him that there’s really no crime in two people who love each other having consensual sex. Moreover, Aiel men sometimes have multiple wives, so Rand being with Elayne, Aviendha, and Min isn’t necessarily wrong. Though relieved, Rand begins planning to send Min away, but she’s able to convince him not to.
  • Rand finally meets with the Atha’an Miere and begins negotiations with them. Him being ta’veren gains some early wins the Atha’an Miere grant that he’s the Coramoor and they will do as he asks, but a panic attack at being confined in the ship’s small quarters forces him to leave before the bargain is finalized.
  • Immediately after meeting with the Atha’an Miere, Rand – recklessly – travels with Min to the rebels outside of Cairhien. There, he immediately meets both Lady Caraline Damodred and High Lord Darlin Sisnera. Caraline knows who he is, but covers for him with Darlin (naming him Thomas Trakand.) Darlin intends to marry Caraline and Min has a vision of him with a crown.
  • Rand spends some time in the rebel camp and seems to be charming both Caraline and Darlin. The camp also has seven Aes Sedai, including Cadsuane. More importantly, Fain (going by Jeraal Mordeth) is there with Toram Riatin, who also hates Rand.
  • Rand has a duel with practice swords against Toram, who is a blademaster. They seem fairly equally matched (Toram is perhaps a bit better) but they’re interrupted by a sudden heavy fog which condenses into tentacles, killing and maiming everyone around (I’m not sure whether this is a random bubble of evil or something Fain did.) In the chaos, Rand takes a cut from Fain’s dagger – right over his wound from Ba’alzamon. Rand nearly dies immediately but is saved by Cadsuane and the Aes Sedai, who rush him to Cairhien. There, he receives additional healing from an Asha’man named Flinn, who greatly impresses the Yellow. The two wounds are both evil but somehow opposed. Rand is still very weak and may yet die of the wounds, but they may consume each other instead.
  • Having been incapacitated for two days, Rand’s plans for Sammael are hindered. Despite hardly being able to dress himself, Rand initiates the attack on Illian. He Travels the Asha’man and an army directly into Illian, where the Asha’man set off flows through the sky to set off Sammael’s alarms. Bashere leads the mundane armies while Rand duels with Sammael. Sammael lures Rand to Shadar Logoth to complete their duel.
  • It’s night and Mashadar is out.
  • Rand briefly encounters Liah, the Maiden he had to abandon previously.
  • Rand is nearly killed and helped by a stranger with black hair and roughly his height. The stranger is a man, but Rand never feels him channel. This is probably Moridin, using the True Power.
  • Rand is about to kill Sammael with balefire, but Liah is caught by Mashadar and Rand kills her to spare her the awful death. Sammael is presumably caught by Mashadar as well.
  • Rand returns to Illian where he is offered the crown. When asked why they offer it so readily, they explain that the grain he sent from Tear saved many people from starvation. For the first time, Rand feels as though he might actually have earned some right to this crown and he accepts it. The crown was previously known as the Laurel Crown, but becomes known as the Crown of Swords.

The Point: Balance

Okay, that was a long summary, but I don’t think I could’ve shortened it by much without cutting something important. Before we get into the deeper analysis, I’ve got to say, this is the first Wheel of Time book that felt like a “middle” book. I don’t think it was bad, by any stretch, but while I’ve praised every other book since Eye of the World for avoiding all the pitfalls of being a middle book in a long series, I can’t say the same for A Crown of Swords. As I mentioned last time, the quest for the Bowl of the Winds was suspended in Lord of Chaos, and resolved at the end of this book. Moreover, much of A Crown of Swords is spent resolving Rand being captured and the carnage at Dumai’s Wells. The ending in Shadar Logoth felt rushed, almost as much as the ending of Eye of the World.

I really get the impression that A Crown of Swords was cut into its own book by an editor, but wasn’t really written that way by Robert Jordan. I’m still staying away from interviews, wikis, and anything else that might spoil the books, so I’m not certain about this, but the book just didn’t feel as atomic as the rest of the series.

Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, it is a middle book in a longer series, and the plot is complex. This isn’t an episode-of-the-week production where endings and beginnings are always cleanly demarcated. But… it does make it tricky to come up with a theme.

Nonetheless, I think we actually do have a theme for A Crown of Swords, and that theme is balance.

Just as the laurel crown itself has sharp swords buried among its leaves with half facing up and half facing down, A Crown of Swords is filled with both sharp juxtapositions between good and bad turns of fate and with double-edged circumstances, where bad – in context – becomes good and vice versa.

I’ll get into the specific examples in just a moment, but I think this theme is really crystallized by the short exchange between Min and Caraline Damodred.

“I could accept my young cousin on the throne—better she than some, at least—but. . . .” Those big dark eyes that had seemed so liquid suddenly became stone. “But I am not sure I can, accept you in Cairhien, and I do not mean only your changes to laws and customs. You . . . change fate by your very presence. Every day since you came, people die in accidents so bizarre no one can believe them. So many husbands abandon their wives, and wives their husbands, that no one even comments upon it now. You will tear Cairhien apart just by remaining here.”

“Balance,” Min broke in hastily. Rand’s face was so dark, he looked ready to burst. Maybe he had been right to come after all. Certainly there was no point letting him throw this meeting away in a tantrum. She gave no one a chance to speak. “There is always a balance of good against bad. That’s how the Pattern works. Even he doesn’t change that. As night balances day, good balances harm. Since he came, there hasn’t been a single stillbirth in the city, not one child born deformed. There are more marriages some days than used to be in a week, and for every man who chokes to death on a feather, a woman tumbles head over heels down three flights of stairs and, instead of breaking her neck, stands up without a bruise. Name the evil, and you can point to the good. The turning of the Wheel requires balance, and he only increases the chances of what might have happened anyway in nature.”

Chapter 35 – Into the Woods

With that theme in mind, let’s dig in to some of the most interesting moments from A Crown of Swords.

Egwene

Ah, it’s good to finally see Egwene being competent. It’s been a long journey, and Egwene still has some real character flaws, but she’s finally found herself in a position where her unique strengths and flaws both serve her well. That’s really key to Egwene’s rise: she’s not getting by purely on courage, determination, or curiosity (her strengths.) Neither is she succeeding solely due to lessons learned from the Wise Ones and from Moiraine. Even Egwene’s jealousy, ego, and recklessness serve her well as Amyrlin – without these flaws, she wouldn’t be as effective.

Consider Egwene having Aes Sedai swearing oaths of fealty to her. This is something that even Elaida is still merely fantasizing about! Even Siuan, who – to be clear – was deposed for debatably valid reasons regardless of how much we like her, is absolutely shocked by this. It’s dangerous, it sets a bad precedent, and the power could go to Egwene’s head… but it might also be absolutely essential for Egwene to do what she needs to do to prepare the Aes Sedai for Tarmon Gai’don.

Likewise, if Egwene hadn’t sent Lan to Ebou Dar, Nynaeve would probably be dead. Maybe Lan, too. Instead, they’re both alive and married. Egwene’s recklessness and surety that she’s right even when everyone else says otherwise enabled this.

To be clear, Egwene didn’t necessarily grow into the position. I mean, she’s certainly grown since Emond’s Field, but her unique set of strengths and weaknesses hasn’t really changed. There’s a fair bit of dumb luck involved in Egwene being chosen as the puppet Amyrlin, but does this actually matter? At the very least, this is no different from the ta’veren luck the boys benefit from. If we consider Mat’s luck to be a virtue, then I think we also need to admit that Egwene’s flaws are, in the context she finds herself, virtues too. She’d probably be a terrible Amyrlin – perhaps no different from Elaida – in different circumstances, but speculating on Egwene’s potential failures in different circumstances seems… petty. If she survives to become a tyrannical Amyrlin after Tarmon Gai’don, that still seems like an acceptable future, all considering.

On the theme of “balance,” I should also note that Egwene’s authority, at the moment, is only possible in as much as she is able to keep Romanda, Lelaine, and Sheriam balanced against one another. It’s a delicate balance, and I expect that we’ll see more trouble come of this in the next book, particularly considering that we haven’t yet seen the outcome of Delana wanting Elaida denounced as Black Ajah and Romanda wanting everyone essentially put to the question. Of course, we also have the siege of Tar Valon coming up.

Speaking of Tar Valon…

Elaida

Let’s start off with two quotes.

“The White Tower will be whole again, except for remnants cast out and scorned, whole and stronger than ever. Rand al’Thor will face the Amyrlin Seat and know her anger. The Black Tower will be rent in blood and fire, and sisters will walk its grounds. This I Foretell.”

Prologue

The Foretelling had been so certain! She would . . . !

Abruptly she stopped, frowning at the tiny shards of crystals clinging to the tapestry, the larger pieces scattered across the floor. The Foretelling. Surely that had spoken of her triumph. Her triumph! Alviarin might have her minor victory, but the future belonged to Elaida. As long as Alviarin could be gotten rid of.

But it had to be done quietly, in some way so that even the Hall would want silence. A way that would not point to Elaida until it was too late, should Alviarin’s sails gain wind. And suddenly the why came to her. Alviarin would not believe if she was told. No one would.

Chapter 32 – Sealed to the Flame

I had to re-read chapter 32 to be certain… but, yeah, Elaida still doesn’t even consider it a remote possibility that Egwene – or any of the rebels – might be the Amyrlin from her Foretelling. It’s only now that she’s even considered that it might not be her.

I sometimes need to remind myself that Elaida is not Black Ajah: she’s just hungry for power and glory.

Yet, the whole picture is finally starting to come together. Not entirely unlike Egwene, Elaida’s vices may yet serve good ends. She Foretold that the White Tower would be “whole and stronger than ever.” Perhaps this isn’t merely a euphemism for saying that the Tower will be “fine” but a prophecy that the Aes Sedai will literally become stronger.

As far as we can tell, Elaida has no notion that Alviarin is actually Black Ajah. Yet, as Seaine deduces, Elaida has begun an official investigation to root out the Black Ajah, to which she adds: “I charge you to follow the stench of treason, no matter where it leads or how high, even to the Keeper herself. Yes, even to her.”

So, Elaida plans to “frame” Alviarin as Black Ajah.

With Pevara involved, who hates Darkfriends, it seems that Elaida may actually go down in history for rooting out the Black Ajah. Perhaps she’ll actually gain a piece of that glory she so desperately wants.

Honestly, this reminds me of Gollum’s dragon-like lust for the One Ring and his final act as a necessary step in destroying the ring. We can’t say whether this unexpected twist is part of some Economy of Salvation or just ironic luck. It’s also hard to say at this point whether Elaida will be remembered as the villain she truly is or as the hero who rooted out the Black Ajah and paved the way for a stronger White Tower. The Aes Sedai do love rewriting their history to serve their political agenda…

If there’s one thing we do know, it’s that her palace isn’t going to be built to spec. It just doesn’t seem structurally feasible, at least without Ogier masons.

Elayne

Just going alphabetically, that brings us to Elayne. Ah, Elayne – I wasn’t very kind to her last time around, was I? Well, considering that her response to Mat telling her that Tylin raped him was to suggest that he might try “batting your eyelashes, too,” then to ignore his plea to not tell anyone, I can’t necessarily say that Elayne is any more likeable in A Crown of Swords. That said, she does see some major growth.

First, she finally takes the first steps in relating to Mat better.

Now, we should be honest here: this change doesn’t have much to do with Mat at all to Elayne. Somewhat like the LARPers in Cairhien, Elayne is playing a bit at ji’e’toh. Unlike the Cairhienin, Elayne doesn’t seem to be doing this for philosophical reasons, but solely to relate better to Aviendha and thus to Rand.

Trying to pull apart exactly what’s going on in Elayne’s mind here is, frankly, kind of cringy, but let’s give it a shot.

I’ve talked about Elayne’s infatuation with Rand before. At this point, Elayne has been apart from Rand for longer than she was with him, right? They hardly know each other at all. While Rand has had romantic feelings for practically every woman near to his age that he’s spent any real time with (which seems pretty realistic to me,) Elayne is really holding out for Rand, despite being surrounded by plenty of other impressive, attractive, charismatic, and diverse men. The only other man Elayne has really chased at all is fucking Thom, and thank the Light that seems to be over.

We could consider this to be a matter of destiny and the pattern. Yes, “Elayne” and “Ilyena” are practically the same word. But, despite The Wheel of Time’s reliance on the pattern to guide probability, I really think that we should at least try to find real causes for the effects we observe and leave the excuse “the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills” as a last resort for unexplained causality.

With that in mind, Elayne’s behavior when it comes to Rand and Aviendha actually seems pretty relatable to me. Rand caught her eye just for being unique (and cute,) and the difficulty in maintaining a relationship with him really just made it more interesting. The drama of the futility in trying to long-distance date the Dragon Reborn is romantic in itself. What teenager doesn’t love a tragic romance? Having to share him with other women is upsetting, I’m sure, but it’s also filled with sexually charged drama, and Elayne’s just about the right age to be easy prey for this sort of romance.

For comparison, Min is a bit older and wiser, and she is definitely not enjoying the drama here. She recognizes that her infatuation with Rand is something outside of her control and hates that her relationship with him is filled with tragedy and compromise. Min doesn’t want a tragic and dramatic romance; she’s just rolling with it because she’s wise and strong enough to recognize when she doesn’t have a better option. (I feel like I don’t talk about Min enough – she’s one of my favorite characters.)

Elayne wanting Aviendha’s respect feels like a natural continuation of this drama. Elayne enjoys skirting the boundaries of what’s socially acceptable when she can. She loved the costumes she wore while performing in the menagerie and she’s having fun learning to curse properly. I imagine she finds a thrill in discussing something as taboo as a polygamous relationship. That this isn’t as taboo to the Aiel makes it less scary. That Aviendha isn’t particularly happy with it either provides a link between the two women. Aviendha can explain why sharing Rand is socially acceptable while commiserating in the jealousy they’re both feeling. All of this drama also helps to fill the void left by not actually being with Rand; Elayne can fill the time she might have spent simply missing Rand and worrying that he’ll cheat with talking to Aviendha, who is in a similar situation.

That Aviendha is more worldly also sets her up as a sort of older sister or mentor. Elayne is prideful, but unlike some of our other prideful characters, she doesn’t really have a problem in looking for guidance and taking advice.

So, that’s the long route around to explaining that Elayne didn’t really come to see that she had been seeing Mat incorrectly on her own, but when both Aviendha and Birgitte told her that she owed Mat a debt, she was entirely willing to take the advice. To her credit, although it wasn’t really about Mat at first, Elayne truly does take the advice. When Mat offers her the foxhead medallion and then saves her from the gholam, she actually does come to see that Aviendha and Birgitte were right.

On the theme of balance, I like how Elayne’s teenage romantic drama was sublimated into some real character growth and maturity.

But that’s not the only growth we saw from Elayne this book.

Honestly, I loved Nynaeve and Elayne getting some comeuppance for their arrogance when Setalle and the Kin couldn’t accept them as Aes Sedai. Maybe that’s petty of me, and I should probably have more sympathy for them struggling to be taken seriously by the Aes Sedai, but they were just being such arrogant jerks that they really did have it coming.

The key here, however, isn’t that Elayne and Nynaeve needed to be “put in their place,” but that they need to actually act like adults before anyone will treat them as such. Elayne and Nynaeve can bully the men around them easily enough, but the Aes Sedai don’t cave so easily. In chapter 30 – The First Cup – we finally get to see Elayne take charge and use her queen-voice to real effect. “The pride of a thousand years of Andoran queens put steel into her backbone.” Elayne successfully argues that rejecting her authority in Ebou Dar means rejecting Egwene’s authority as Amyrlin, which is rebellion. She goes on to question them about the Kin and put together a daring plan to not only retrieve the Bowl of the Winds but also bring an unprecedented number of women, some of them quite powerful, to the Aes Sedai. The response is even better than she had even hoped.

Vandene noticed her surprise, and smiled. “Another thing you might not know. We are a contentious lot in many ways, we Aes Sedai, each jealous of her place and prerogatives, but when someone is placed above us or stands above us, we tend to follow her fairly meekly for the most part. However we might grumble about her decisions in private.”

“Why, so we do,” Adeleas murmured happily, as if she had just discovered something.

Merilille took a deep breath, absorbing herself for a moment in straightening her skirts. “Vandene is right,” she said. “You stand above us in yourself, and I must admit, you apparently have been placed above us. If our behavior calls for penance. . . . Well, you will tell us if it does. Where are we to follow you? If I may ask?” There was no sarcasm in any of that; if anything, her tone was more polite than Elayne had heard out of her before.

Chapter 30 – The First Cup

So, to summarize, Elayne suffered a sharp blow to her pride, which inspired some real growth. Now, I don’t want to push this “balance” theme too far: this is kind of just how growth works. Something pushes at you and you grow to push back harder in response. Regardless of how well my theme for today’s rant fits, we definitely saw some major character growth for Elayne this book. Her treatment of Mat after he confides in her about Tylin still bugs me, but in fairness to Elayne, everyone seems to react that way. That doesn’t excuse it, but we shouldn’t hold Elayne to a higher standard than our other characters either.

Mat

I’d say that this leads naturally into talking about Mat… but he’s also just up next alphabetically.

So, there’s plenty to talk about for Mat in A Crown of Swords, but let’s just get directly to the worst of it. Trigger warning for this whole section, but I really hope that you already read the book, so this shouldn’t be a surprise. Throughout the book, Tylin continually harasses Mat, culminating in raping him in chapter 29, “The Festival of Birds.” This is the first instance, but not the last. At first her harassment is somewhat private, but she makes it more and more public.

It’d be gratuitous to quote the scene here, but suffice to say, this is very explicitly rape. She holds a knife to him with a very real threat of violence. Mat’s pretty good at fighting, but a knife directly to the throat or heart would kill him just as quick as anyone else. He’d probably win in a duel, but even if he dodged the initial thrust of her knife, he couldn’t likely disarm her without a fight, and she could simply call guards and say that he attacked her. To be clear, even without the knife, this would have been a rape scene. Tylin is the queen, men in Ebou Dar don’t have many rights, and even Mat’s closest friends in Ebou Dar wouldn’t have likely taken his side. Note that he’s only able to convince Elayne after she sees how flagrant Tylin is being; if Mat had tried to convince her earlier, before he was raped, she wouldn’t have believed him. This is all really just a long way of saying that I don’t think that anyone could argue that Mat wasn’t raped here. Perhaps I don’t need to defend this idea so much, but I would understand if someone reading quickly kind of skimmed past the rape and assumed that it was just an aggressive relationship and that Mat can handle himself. Jordan’s writing here is very good and very subtle: right up until the actual rape scene, I still thought that Tylin was kind of cool and might even be good for Mat.

The word “rape” isn’t used much in The Wheel of Time, and when it is, it’s generally used indirectly, rather than in reference to a specific incident. Bonding Rand against his will was akin to rape. Min has a vision that Hanlon’s hands will be “red with more rapes and murders.” Rape is generally implied, in comments like “Women do suffer worse than men from the attentions of Myrddraal, but even Myrddraal must find their pleasures somewhere” from Sammael.

Which is to say: I’m not actually sure whether men are considered legitimate targets of rape, culturally, in the cultures we’ve seen. That Mat doesn’t refer to his experience as “rape” using that word doesn’t really mean anything as nobody likes to say that word.

What we do know is that Mat reacts as though he’s been raped. Though this is an unpleasant scene and an unpleasant topic, I really want to emphasize how masterful the writing is here.

“It isn’t natural,” he burst out, yanking the pipestem from between his teeth. “I’m the one who’s supposed to do the chasing!” Her astonished eyes surely mirrored his own. Had Tylin been a tavern maid who smiled the right way, he might have tried his luck—well, if the tavern maid lacked a son who liked poking holes in people—but he was the one who chased. He had just never thought of it that way before. He had never had the need to, before.

Tylin began laughing, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes with her fingers. “Oh, pigeon. I do keep forgetting. You are in Ebou Dar, now. I left a little present for you in the sitting room.” She patted his foot through the sheet. “Eat well today. You are going to need your strength.”

Mat put a hand over his eyes and tried very hard not to weep. When he uncovered them, she was gone.

Chapter 29 – The Festival of Birds

This isn’t the last time that Mat either cries or has to try very hard not to in the book.

“Modhedien and Tylin. Of the two, he would rather confront Moghedien. He touched the foxhead hanging in the open neck of his shirt. At least he had some protection against Moghedien. Against Tylin, he had no more than he did against the Daughter of the bloody Nine Moons, whoever she was. Unless he could find some way to make Nynaeve and Elayne leave Ebou Dar before tonight, everybody was going to know. Sullenly, he tugged his hat lower. These flaming women really were making him act like a girl. In another minute, he was afraid, he might just start crying.”

Chapter 37 – A Note from the Palace

In addition to tears, we see that Mat responds by wanting to hide the incident, ashamed of it. He only tells Elayne in a desperate moment with no obvious alternative.

Elayne poked him in the chest with hers, her scowl beneath that plumed hat so cold it made his toes hurt. “Mistress Corly,” she said in the icy voice of a queen pronouncing judgment, “explained to Nynaeve and me the significance of those red flowers on the basket, which I see you at least have shame enough to have hidden.”

His face went redder than Nynaeve’s had thought of. A few paces away, Reanne Corly and the other two were tying on hats and adjusting dresses the way women did every time they stood up, sat down or moved three steps. Yet despite giving their attention to their clothes, they had enough left over for glances in his direction, and for once they were neither disapproving nor startled. He had not known the bloody flowers meant anything! Ten sunsets would not have done for his face.

“So!” Elayne’s voice was low, for his ears alone, but it dripped disgust and contempt. She gave her cloak a twitch, to keep it from touching him. “It’s true! I could not believe it of you, not even you! I’m sure Nynaeve couldn’t. Any promise I made to you is abolished! I will not keep any promise to a man who could force his attentions on a woman, on any woman, but especially on a Queen who has offered him—”

“Me force my attentions on her!” he shouted. Or rather, he tried to shout; choking made it come out in a wheeze.

Seizing Elayne’s shoulders, he pulled her away from the carriages a little distance. Shirtless dockmen in stained green leather vests hurried by, carrying sacks on their shoulders or rolling barrels along the quay, some pushing low barrows loaded with crates, all giving the coaches a wide berth. The Queen of Altara might not have much power, but her sigil on a coach door ensured that commoners would give it room. Nalesean and Beslan were chatting as they led the Redarms onto the landing, Vanin bringing up the rear and staring gloomily at the choppy river; he claimed to have a tender belly when it came to boats. The Wise Women from both coaches had gathered around Reanne, watching, but they were not close enough to overhear. He whispered hoarsely just the same.

“You listen to me! That woman won’t take no for an answer; I say no, and she laughs at me. She’s starved me, bullied me, chased me down like a stag! She has more hands than any six women I ever met. She threatened to have the serving women undress me if I didn’t let her—” Abruptly, what he was saying hit him. And who he was saying it to. He managed to close his mouth before he swallowed a fly. He became very interested in one of the dark metal ravens inlaid in the haft of the ashandarei, so he would not have to meet her eyes. “What I mean to say is, you don’t understand,” he muttered. “You have it all backwards.” He risked a glance at her under the edge of his hatbrim.

A faint blush crept into her cheeks, but her face became solemn as a marble bust. “It . . . appears that I may have misunderstood,” she said soberly. “That is . . . very bad of Tylin.” He thought her lips twitched. “Have you considered practicing different smiles in a mirror, Mat?”

Startled, he blinked. “What?”

“I have heard reliably that that is what young women do who attract the eyes of kings.” Something cracked the sobriety of her voice, and this time her lips definitely twitched. “You might try batting your eyelashes, too.” Catching her lower lip with her teeth, she turned away, shoulders shaking, dustcloak streaming behind as she hurried toward the landing. Before she darted beyond hearing, he heard her chortle something about “a taste of his own medicine.” Reanne and the Wise Women scurried in her wake, a flock of hens following a chick instead of the other way around. The few bare-chested boatmen up out of their boats stopped coiling lines or whatever they were doing and bowed their heads respectfully as the procession went by.

Snatching off his hat, Mat considered throwing it down and jumping on it. Women! He should have known better than to expect sympathy. He would like to throttle the bloody Daughter-Heir. And Nynaeve, too, on general principle. Except, of course, that he could not. He had made promises. And those dice were still using his skull for a dice cup. And one of the Forsaken might be around somewhere. Settling the hat squarely back on his head, he marched down the landing, brushed past the Wise Women and caught up to Elayne. She was still trying to fight down giggles, but every time she cut her eyes his way, the color in her cheeks renewed itself and so did the giggles.
…
It’s only after Mat offers his foxhead medallion that Elayne responds,
…
“I am sorry I laughed at you.” She cleared her throat, looking away. “Sometimes I forget my duty to my subjects. You are a worthy subject, Matrim Cauthon. I will see that Nynaeve understands the right of . . . of you and Tylin. Perhaps we can help.”

“No,” he spluttered. “I mean, yes. I mean. . . . That is. . . . Oh, kiss a flaming goat if I know what I mean. I almost wish you didn’t know the truth.” Nynaeve and Elayne sitting down to discuss him with Tylin over tea. Could he ever live that down? Could he ever again look any of them in the eye afterward? But if they did not. . . . He was between the wolf and the bear with nowhere to run. “Oh, sheep swallop! Sheep swallop and bloody buttered onions!” He nearly wished she would call him down for his language the way Nynaeve would, just to change the subject.

Chapter 37 – A Note from the Palace

The line that stands out the most there to me is “He should have known better than to expect sympathy.” We see here that, although he desperately wants to hide the whole affair, he also wants sympathy, and maybe even help – though not if that help means telling other people, which is, of course, precisely what Elayne does.

In addition to shame and fear, we also see Mat acting scandalized by the Festival of Birds. Now, Mat is from the Two Rivers, and I wouldn’t have been surprised at a comment or two about how crazy Ebou Dar is, but you’d normally expect that he’d be pleasantly shocked. Instead, he’s just appalled.

Mat’s parting words to Tylin are also worth noting,

“I’ll miss you, too,” he muttered. To his shock, that was simple truth. He was leaving Ebou Dar just in time. “But if we meet again, I’ll do the chasing.”

Chapter 39 – Promises to Keep

I’ve been mostly focusing on Mat’s response thus far, but note how everyone else responds. Elayne and Aviendha think it’s funny. Tylin’s staff think it’s funny. Thom and Juilin think it’s funny. We don’t really learn what Nynaeve thinks about it, as she’s preoccupied with Lan. I’m actually really not sure what Nynaeve would think if she wasn’t so distracted: I could really see her doing almost anything, I could see her accusing Mat of bringing it on himself, making the whole thing up… or I could see her wanting to protect him. For all Nynaeve’s faults, she joined this whole adventure to protect the kids from Emond’s Field. If she thought Tylin was hurting Mat, I don’t think she’d hesitate to do something about it… but I’d be kind of surprised if she didn’t at least partially blame Mat for bringing it on himself.

I also want to point out Elayne’s comment that Mat was getting “a taste of his own medicine.” Mat, himself, considers this for a moment during the Festival of Birds when he thinks “he had never chased any woman who let him know she did not want to be chased.” From what we’ve seen of Mat, I think he’s being honest with himself here. Mat certainly enjoys playing with women, but as he says to himself after killing Melindhra, “women were glad when he came into their lives. It was not boasting. Women smiled for him; even when he left them, they smiled as if they would welcome him back. That was all he ever really wanted from women; a smile, a dance, a kiss, and to be remembered fondly.” I really don’t think that Mat has any problems with seeing women as people.

We actually get a glimpse into this in Mat’s relationship with Birgitte.

Normally, to him, women were to admire and smile at, to dance with and kiss if they would allow, to snuggle with if he was lucky. Deciding which women to chase was almost as much fun as chasing them, if not nearly so much as catching them. Some women were just friends, of course. A few. Egwene, for one, though he was not sure how that friendship would survive her becoming Amyrlin. Nynaeve was sort of a friend, in a way; if she could forget for one hour that she had switched his bottom more than once and remember he was not a boy anymore. But a woman friend was different from a man; you always knew her mind ran along other paths than yours, that she saw the world with different eyes.

Birgitte leaned toward him on the bench. “Best be wary,” she murmured. “That widow is looking for a new husband; the sheath on her marriage knife is blue. Besides, the house is over there.”

He blinked, losing sight of the sweetly plump woman who rolled her hips so extravagantly as she walked, and Birgitte answered his sheepish grin with a laugh. Nynaeve would have flayed him with her tongue for looking, and even Egwene would have been coolly disapproving. By the end of the second day on that bench, he realized he had sat all that time with his hip pressed against Birgitte’s and never once thought of trying to kiss her. He was sure she did not want to be kissed by him—frankly, considering the dog-ugly men she seemed to enjoy looking at, he might have been insulted if she had—and she was a hero out of legend whom he still half-expected to leap over a house and grab a couple of the Forsaken by the neck on the way. But that was not it: He would as soon have thought of kissing Nalesean. The same as the Tairen, just exactly the same as, he liked Birgitte.

Chapter 28 – Bread and Cheese

So, Mat definitely tends to see women as sexual conquests and his female friends as different from his male friends, but with Birgitte, he has just a “friend” who happens to be female, rather than a “female friend.”

I think we should avoid the easy conclusion here, that Mat being raped is somehow good for him and will teach him to see women as people. Mat already saw women as people. That quote I just read was from before the rape scene. I think that was an intentional point from Jordan: Mat always respected women’s consent and he was already learning to relate to women as just people, rather than as something foreign, without being raped. There’s really no upside to Tylin’s crime here: it was just bad.

Alright, so, I spent a lot of time talking about Tylin there, but let’s get back to the rest of Mat’s journey in A Crown of Swords, as it wasn’t all bad. For the first half of the book, it was actually great. Mat had a very productive evening drinking with Birgitte on Swovan Night. As we discussed earlier, when talking about Elayne, Birgitte and Aviendha finally forced Elayne and Nynaeve to stop being such jerks to Mat. Granted, it doesn’t fully hold, as they’re still using him at the end of the book when they manipulate him into convincing the Atha’an Miere to leave Ebou Dar. Nonetheless, there’s at least some improvement here. At the very least, they acknowledged that Mat infiltrating the Stone and risking the Forsaken and the Black Ajah to save them was actually pretty goddamn laudable.

The whole situation with Tylin is pretty terrible, but at least his relationship with Nynaeve and Elayne is improved.

We also see that Mat, himself, is showing some character growth, finally seeing that his being ta’veren might make him responsible for other people.

Some of them followed Mat Cauthon because they thought he was lucky, because his luck might keep them alive when the swords were out, and some for reasons he was not really sure of, but they followed. Not even Thom had ever more than protested an order of his. Maybe Renaile had been more than luck. Maybe his being ta’veren did more than dump him in the middle of trouble. Suddenly he felt . . . responsible . . . for these men. It was an uncomfortable feeling. Mat Cauthon and responsibility did not go together. It was unnatural.

Chapter 39 – Promises to Keep

So, overall, Mat had a really rocky time this book. He had some great moments, some spectacularly low ones, and he’s also showing some good character growth.

Unfortunately for Mat, I suspect that he’s going to spend some time with the Seanchan next book, given that he had a building dropped on his head during the invasion of Ebou Dar. Maybe we’re finally going to see him meet the Daughter of the Nine Moons.

Morgase

So, I swear that I just put these names in alphabetical order – I’m not transitioning to Morgase because she was also raped – but Morgase also had a pretty rocky book.

She ends it in a much better place than Mat: she’s back on the road, away from both the Children of the Light and the Seanchan. That’s definitely an improvement. But, she was raped by Eamon Valda and tortured by Rhadam Asunawa. She’s also abdicated the throne, passing it to Elayne. Nobody else heard her speak the words to pass the throne to Elayne, but it seems that she takes them seriously regardless.

I need to pause for just a moment and call out just how goddamn tough Morgase is. She spent a long time being raped and otherwise violated by Rahvin, fled her kingdom, was a prisoner of Pedron Niall, and has now been tortured and violated by both Asunawa and Valda. She hasn’t seen her children in quite some time and really can’t know whether they’re okay. Despite all of this, we hardly hear her complain at all: she’s focused entirely on getting Andor back and ensuring that Elayne inherits the throne. That’s hella tough.

She also encountered Suroth and the Seanchan. We see, through Morgase, that Amathera – Panarch of Tarabon – is now an enslaved dancer. The Seanchan are making some astounding early gains, quickly setting themselves up as the most significant threat, other than Shai’Tan. Fortunately, Morgase has seen how powerful they are and she’s free. It would’ve been great if Morgase could have escaped before suffering at the hands of Valda and Asunawa, but if she had, then she wouldn’t have seen the strength of the Seanchan and she might not have spoken the words that mean that she will not likely make an attempt at retaking Andor herself.

This is a really big deal. Morgase trying to retake the throne from Rand could’ve been an absolute disaster for everyone involved. Elayne being handed the throne from Rand could also be a disaster, as she would appear to be his puppet. With Morgase involved and no longer aiming for the throne herself, she could help to make Elayne’s ascension legitimate without war with Rand. Morgase’s time with the Children of the Light and the Seanchan were truly a double-edged sword.

Side note, I really like the bits of the Old Tongue that we’re seeing. We learn from Moghedien that “mia’cova” means “my owner” and we learn from Suroth that “da’covale” means “person who is owned.” It seems that “cova” refers to ownership with “cova” being transitive, as in “person who owns” and “covale” being intransitive, as in “person who is owned.” Again, I’m trying to stay away from any material outside of the books, but once I’m done with the series, I definitely plan to see what’s out there for the Old Tongue.

Moghedien

Speaking of people who are owned, let’s talk about Moghedien.

If Morgase’s experiences in A Crown of Swords are a double edged sword, then Moghedien’s journey feels more like being flipped out of the frying pan and into the fire. She’s finally free of the a’dam, but now she’s subject to a mindtrap, which seems far more powerful. Nonetheless, she’s once again serving Shai’Tan, and though her new owner – Moridin – isn’t likely as merciful as Egwene, he may also be less likely to simply kill her than the Aes Sedai if she’d been discovered. It’s hard to say whether this development will ultimately be good or bad for Moghedien.

Moghedien also comes up in Nynaeve’s section for today, but first, let’s briefly touch on Moridin.

Moridin

Who is Moridin?

In Chapter 25, Mindtrap, we meet him as the Darkfriend who holds Moghedien’s cour’souvra. Actually, he holds multiple mindtraps. Physically, he’s described as tall, broad-shouldered, and young – “of a size” with Rand. He has remarkably blue eyes and, in Moghedien’s eyes, his only aesthetic flaw is an overly strong chin. He also has black flecks in his eyes which Moghedien calls “saa,” which indicate that he has channeled the “True Power,” which comes from Shai’Tan, many times.

Given this description, it sure seems like this is the same person who was spying on Sammael and Graendal, if only because that person used the True Power.

It also seems like he’s probably the stranger who helped Rand in Shadar Logoth. Rand notes that he doesn’t sense this man channel. Perhaps we have a similar situation as with Aran’gar, but I doubt it. The stranger is also described as being big and around the same age as Rand. Rand doesn’t note the remarkably blue eyes, but he does note black hair and a black coat. Well, we know from Moghedien that Moridin’s colors are black and red, so the black coat fits as well. We can’t be certain that this is the same person, but it fits nicely.

Rand also notes that he does not recognize the man’s face, so he cannot be a Forsaken. But, Rand doesn’t know that the Forsaken can be reborn by Shai’Tan’s power, provided that they aren’t killed by balefire.

Hmm, have we seen any other characters using the True Power?

Once again, we should take a look at the prologue to The Eye of the World. There, we see a “black-clad man” using a “different power” that comes from Shai’Tan. A Forsaken who – as we learn in chapter 26 of The Shadow Rising – was “only partly trapped, or maybe not at all”: Elan Morin, also known as Ishamael and Ba’alzamon.

Alright, so, I don’t have any real proof here, but Ba’alzamon wasn’t killed by balefire, and if Aginor and Balthamel were chosen by Shai’Tan to be reincarnated, I don’t see why he’d skip Ishamael. Think back to the end of The Eye of the World. There, Rand saw Ba’alzamon fueled by a great black cord that ate light, which sure sounds like the True Power. Note that Rand wasn’t experienced enough in the One Power to really notice whether he could feel Ba’alzamon channeling or not.

Also note that Ba’alzamon didn’t want to kill Rand. When Rand forms a sword of light, Ba’alzamon’s response is to say “Fool! You will destroy yourself! You cannot wield it so, not yet! Not until I teach you!” This fits with the stranger in Shadar Logoth saving Rand and warning him that “a great many plans will have to be relaid if you let yourself be killed now.” The stranger also knows Sammael well enough to give Rand the tip that Sammael “always liked destroying a man in sight of one of that man’s triumphs, if he could. Lacking that, somewhere the man had marked as his would do.” Despite not looking like any of the Forsaken, this sure sounds like something that only one of the Forsaken – or, at least, someone who knew them – would know.

So, I really think that Moridin is Elan Morin, Ishamael, and Ba’alzamon, either reincarnated by Shai’Tan or perhaps something stranger.

I should really just leave things there: Ishamael was reincarnated by Shai’Tan as Moridin is a perfectly fine theory, but indulge me just for a minute here while I overthink this.

There’s a running theme that many of our male characters are somehow split into multiple parts. For Perrin, this is philosophical: he sees himself as both a blacksmith and a warrior. For Rand, it’s literal: he has Lews Therin in his mind. Mat has the memories of dead men jumbled up in his own memories. We haven’t come back to it in a while, but we also have whatever’s going on with Lord Luc and Slayer.

I’m really curious what Ishamael being “only partly trapped, or maybe not at all” means. Perhaps this just means that Ba’alzamon was geographically trapped near the Pit of Doom, only able to command minions. Or maybe only part of him was trapped while the rest roamed free. Again, I’m probably overthinking things here, but maybe Moridin and Ba’alzamon aren’t the same person, but each are parts of Elan Morin.

Regardless, with Moridin we have a character who serves Shai’Tan and we’re still taking it for granted that Shai’Tan is evil. Yet, in A Crown of Swords, Moridin really isn’t a problem for our heroes. He’s keeping Moghedien leashed and he saved Rand. That bill will come due eventually – he may even become the most significant threat, in time – but for now, he’s ambiguous. Another double-edged sword.

Nynaeve

Alright, let’s talk about Nynaeve. Nynaeve had a pretty damn good book: she broke her block and got married to Lan! Perfectly on theme for today, both of these joyous developments came as the result of tragedies.

Breaking her block only came as a result of surrendering to pure helplessness, drowning beneath an overturned ship after Moghedien’s reckless bit of balefire. Do note that, while we don’t really care about them, this bit of character growth came at the cost of a couple of Mat’s men being burned with balefire. Still, for Nynaeve, this is fantastic.

She hammered a fist against the seat until she felt it bruise, fighting for the anger that would allow her to channel. She would not die. Not here. Alone. No one would know where she had died. No grave, just a corpse rotting at the bottom of the river. Her arm fell with a splash. She labored for breath. Flecks of black and silver danced in her eyes; she seemed to be looking down a tube. No anger, she realized dimly. She kept trying to reach for saidar, but without any belief that she would touch it, now. She was going to die here after all. No hope. No Lan. And with hope gone, flickering on the edge of consciousness like a guttering candle flame, she did something she had never done before in her life. She surrendered completely.

Saidar flowed into her, filled her.

Chapter 31 – Mashiara

It’s hard to tell whether she learned any philosophical lesson here – that perhaps she doens’t need control over everything and everyone around her – but she’s at least learned how to channel without being angry. Alone, this is a major development. Bear in mind that Nynaeve is immensely powerful, perhaps the most powerful woman alive, but needing to be angry to channel was a major problem. It wasn’t as simple as needing to think angry thoughts, but this must have also prevented her from focus and study. This development doesn’t merely mean that she can channel more often, it means that she can start practicing more often and channeling with a clear head.

She also gets married to Lan, which is only possible because Moiraine died and passed Lan’s bond to Myrelle. Again, these are bad things. I’ve already talked about passing on the bond at length, so I won’t repeat that all here, but it was bad. Yet, without those two events, Lan and Nynaeve wouldn’t be married.

Rand

Alright, I saved Rand for last (well, it’s still alphabetical, but I would’ve covered Rand last regardless.) Let’s get into it.

Rand is being pushed nearly to his breaking point. Right at the start, in chapter two, we have this line from Perrin: “There had been nothing for it but to settle on his heels and listen to Rand recite all one hundred and fifty-one names in a voice like pain stretched to breaking, listen and hope Rand was holding on to sanity.”

From there, things really don’t get any better. Rand does everything he can to spare Colavaere’s life, but in the end she still commits suicide. He learns that Herid Fel has been brutally murdered. The one bit of comfort he finds in this is sex with Min… and he interprets this as a crime that he’s committed against her, hitting what’s probably Rand’s lowest point so far when he cloisters himself away, hardly eating and not bathing at all for days. He sends all of his friends away except for Min, and now he even feels as though she’s lost to him, and by his own monstrous actions.

Yet, it’s at this point that Rand finally finds some relief. Seriously, I don’t often feel like I have a reason to talk about Min because I just don’t see what character growth she needs, given that she’s the best right from the start. Whereas Aviendha and Elayne have practically conspired from the start to drive Rand insane, Min is able to defuse Rand’s spiral with a bit of reason and empathy. Well, and some kicking, but still. “Even when you stand me on my head, you make all my troubles shrink.”

Side note, we get yet another iteration of the running gag that the boys all think that they know the least about women. “Rand took a deep breath. Perrin had such a serene marriage, with a smiling, gentle wife. Why was it that he always seemed drawn to women who spun his head like a top? If only he knew the tenth part of what Mat did about women, he would have known what to say to all that, but as it was, all he could do was blunder on.”

So, out of a low moment, Rand finally seems as though he might come to accept that being the Dragon Reborn doesn’t mean that he can’t have any relationships. This is important, as isolation is only exacerbating the pressure he’s already under.

Which segues nicely into the topic of Rand’s madness.

So, is Rand going mad yet? I’ve previously asked what this even means and I think we’re still stuck at the same place we’ve been at for a while now. Other than hearing Lews Therin’s voice in his head, I really don’t think that any of Rand’s behavior can’t be perfectly explained by the immense pressure he’s under and the great power he now wields. After being trapped in a box and tortured in Lord of Chaos, Rand is definitely traumatized, but who wouldn’t be, if put through the same ordeal?

His fear of the dark and confined spaces is clearly the result of that experience. We see this manifest in a panic when he’s dealing with the Atha’an Miere. By the way, I really liked that scene. The description of the interior of the White Spray was just perfect. I’m hardly an expert on boats, but I used to do a fair bit of sailing with my parents when I was a kid and we had a house boat for a while. I wasn’t as big then as I am now, but I’ll never forget how cramped it was. I wouldn’t consider myself to be claustrophobic, but I’ve definitely had a couple moments of near panic while confined on boats and airplanes. One time, as a kid, I visited a museum with a submarine. I was really young, so I don’t remember much, but I can still remember suddenly needing to get out – and I’ve never been confined like Rand has. His response on the White Spray – to break the chair he was sitting in and run out – felt very relatable and real to me. There’s no supernatural madness here.

We’re also continuing to see his temper worsen, but again, this seems perfectly reasonable given the pressure he’s under. The fight with Perrin was staged, but Perrin chose a topic that actually does frustrate Rand: worrying over the well being of the Aes Sedai who tortured Rand and Min. Frankly, I really don’t blame Rand for getting mad enough to actually hurt Perrin a bit here. Keeping them as alive prisoners is a good political move, demonstrating that he’s not a puppet of the Aes Sedai, but if it were me, I’d still the lot of them.

We are, finally, seeing Rand act a bit more arrogant. Egwene’s been accusing him of arrogance practically since the start, and I hadn’t really seen it much until now, but he is starting to get a bit full of himself. We could say that this is Lews Therin rubbing off on him, but again, I think this is also explained merely by the circumstances Rand finds himself in. His negotiating with the Atha’an Miere worked, after all.

The real problem with Rand’s ego is that he just continues to be suicidaly reckless.

Consider that the whole reason that nobody noticed he was captured last book is that he frequently Travels without telling anyone. So, why the hell is he still doing this? When Rand Travels to the rebel camp near Cairhien, Min – being smart – thinks it’s too reckless, but Rand doesn’t see any problem with it at all. When Min points out that Nandera won’t like it, Rand has the gall to say “She won’t know, Min. I do this all the time, and they never know.” “He even had a twinkle in his eye!”

So, some of this is just Rand’s ego – a result of the power he wields – and him just being fairly young, but in this particular scene, there’s a bit more to it than that. “I . . . need to keep moving while I’m sure it is still working.” On the surface, Rand believes that he’s noticed that his ta’veren powers are working today and he needs to take advantage of them. Beneath that, I think we’re seeing Rand freaking out and not being able to sit still. Note that this scene occurs shortly after his panic attack on the White Spray, which wasn’t long after Min finally broke him out of his spiral. I think that Rand is too jittery to stay still and perhaps a bit afraid to be left alone with this thoughts.

Then there’s Cadsuane’s comment, that hearing voices is a symptom of madness.

I’ve touched on this before, but I’m really not sure what to make of Rand hearing Lews Therin. Is this unique to him, a part of being the Dragon Reborn? The information he receives from Lews Therin appears to be accurate, so I think we can rule out the possibility that he’s simply hallucinating, but perhaps this is a symptom of the madness. Do all men who go mad from the taint on saidin hear the voices of their previous selves? Or perhaps they hear Lews Therin, or one of his companions who sealed the bore? Maybe all of the men present when saidin was tainted are trapped in it, haunting the men who feel that taint thousands of years later.

We can’t say for certain, but I think that Moiraine probably would have said something if this was the case. It’d be hard to keep it secret if every man who goes mad hears Lews Therin or one of his companions in particular. I suppose it’s possible that nobody has noticed, or that the Red Ajah and Cadsuane are keeping that information secret, but even for the Aes Sedai that seems like a difficult thing to keep secret. For now, I think we’ll just need to wait and see.

I actually really want to talk a bit more about Cadsuane, but I think this is turning out to be my longest post yet, and I’d really like to wrap it up soon – I’ll likely have more to say about her next time.

Back to the theme of balance, we can really see that Rand’s experiences in A Crown of Swords oscillated wildly between highs and lows. Low at Dumai’s Wells, high when saving Colavaere. Low when Colavaere killed herself and Herid Fel was murdered, high when he has sex with Min. Low when he think that having sex with Min was a crime, high when she convinces him that it wasn’t. Low when he needs to flee the White Spray, but high when the negotiations with the Atha’an Miere start off strong and when he makes a good first impression on Caraline and Darlin. Low when he’s nearly killed by Fain, high when he survives and manages to catch Illian by surprise. Low when he kills Liah in Shadar Logoth, high when he defeats Sammael and is crowned king of Illian.

Note that we actually get to see Rand’s humanitarian efforts from way back when he was in Tear paying off. Sending grain to Illian was a bad political move for him at the time, something that he only did because he’s a good person.

“You still haven’t said why. Because I conquered you?” He had conquered Tear, and Cairhien too, but some turned on him in both lands still. Yet it seemed to be the only way.

“That do be part,” Gregorin said dryly. “Even so, we might have chosen one of our own; kings have come from the Council before. But the grain you did order sent from Tear has your name on every lip with the Light. Without that, many would be dead of starvation. Brend did see every stick of bread go to the army.”

Rand blinked, and snatched one hand from the crown to suck on a pricked finger. Almost buried among the laurel leaves of the crown were the sharp points of swords. How long ago had he commanded the Tairens to sell grain to their ancient enemy, sell it or die for refusing? He had not realized they kept on after he began preparations to invade Illian. Maybe they feared to bring it up, but they had feared to stop, too. Maybe he had earned some right to this crown.

Chapter 41 – A Crown of Swords

That bit with Liah was also really significant. Rand started the invasion of Illian off with the hope “Today, the Light willing, no women would die because of him.” The invasion is an overwhelming success, but he personally kills Liah with balefire. That he was using balefire really struck me here: doesn’t that mean that she’s burned from the pattern? Perhaps this is still preferable to being consumed by Mashadar, but it’s absolutely horrifying regardless. I’m also really skeptical that Sammael is actually dead… though, I said the same thing about Lanfear, and it looks like that stuck.

But, it’s not just the events of A Crown of Swords that show that alternating pattern of upward and downward facing swords. The main point that got me thinking that the theme of this book is balance is the fresh wound Rand received from Fain. When Flinn heals him, we get this quote:

I couldn’t really touch what’s wrong. I sort of sealed them away from him, for a time, anyhow. It won’t last. They’re fighting each other, now. Maybe they’ll kill off each other, while he heals himself the rest of the way.” Sighing, he shook his head. “On the other hand, I can’t say that they won’t kill him. But I think he has a better chance than he did.”

Chapter 36 – Blades

Rand now has the evil of Shai’Tan and the evil of Shadar Logoth festering against each other and against him on his side. That wound from Ba’alzamon has been causing Rand real problems since he received it. It frequently reopens and the pain of it is so severe that Alanna can hardly bear it through their bond. We’ve seen the effect of the dagger before too. I’m curious how Alanna is holding up now that Rand is marked by two flavors of evil. I’m also very curious to see how the conflict between the various forms of evil will play out. We’ve already seen Fain warped into something that Myrddraal fear as much as men fear Myrddraal.

Outro

Whew, that was a really long post. I had a couple other minor things I wanted to talk about – like the symbolism behind marriage knives and the laurel crown becoming the crown of swords – but I should really just call it here. I want to get started on the video ASAP so I can get to the next book!

Note that now that I’m making videos on top of these posts, the schedule per post will be a bit longer than it was before. It won’t be another two months, like it was this time, but expect new posts to come out around every 2-3 weeks from now on.

I also want to mention how much I appreciate the comments I’ve been getting on YouTube! So far everyone has been really polite and supportive, even when they’re adding corrections – it really means a lot. I plan on finishing the series even if nobody’s watching, but I’m definitely working harder so I don’t disappoint the people watching!