The Wheel of Time: Book Five, The Fires of Heaven

Update: I made a video version of this post! Check it out here:

That makes five – somehow, this feels like the biggest book yet! Today I’m talking about book five of The Wheel of Time, The Fires of Heaven. You can catch up on book four here if you haven’t already.

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.

Quick Summary

• Elaida is still Amyrlin but things aren’t going great for her thus far: many Aes Sedai are staying in a camp in Salidar and ignoring Elaida’s calls to return. By the end of the book, Elaida knows where they are, but neither side has made their move yet. Elaida doesn’t know it, but her Keeper – Alviarin – is Black Ajah.
• Fain got the dagger back.
• Siuan, Leane, Min, and Logain have quite an adventure learning of, and then traveling to, Salidar, where the rebel Aes Sedai are hiding.
  • They start in Braem Wood, heading away from Tar Valon. Along the way, they accidentally burn a barn, get caught, and wind up breaking a powerful oath given to Gareth Bryne, former Captain-General of the Queen’s Guard for Morgase. Drawn in by Siuan’s determined eyes, though not recognizing her, he follows them all the way Salidar. Once there, he quickly agrees to build, train, and lead an army for the rebel Aes Sedai.
  • Siuan and Leane are not welcomed warmly by the Aes Sedai and are treated as little more than servants. Despite this, the pair still pull many – if not most – of the strings, suffering their humiliation to accomplish their mission. Note that the Aes Sedai didn’t have a real plan until our heroes arrived.
  • Both Siuan and Leane are coming to terms with being stilled. Siuan throws herself fully into her mission while Leane enjoys her beauty and seductive talent.
  • Min is just stuck, not able to get back to Rand, and she’s not happy about it. She’s also acting just a bit more feminine, even after she no longer needs the disguise.
  • There’s a bit of a romance hinted at between Siuan and Gareth, but there’s little substance to it as of yet.
• Morgase is alive and finally broken free of Rahvin’s control (well before Rand kills him.)
  • She flees Caemlyn, taking Lini, Tallanvor, and some of the staff of the Queen’s Blessing.
  • She plans to regain her throne, but doesn’t make much progress during the book. Yet, she does keep herself safe.
  • There’s a bit of a romance hinted between her and Tallanvor, but we’ll see if that amounts to anything.
  • She does not yet know that Rand has killed Rahvin and intends to give the throne to Elayne.
• Nynaeve, Elayne, Thom, and Juilin have quite an adventure of their own.
  • The begin by heading back towards the tower, anxious to deliver the cuendillar and relay their information about Moghedien and the Black Ajah. They’re caught in a trap and saved by the men, after which they learn that the Tower isn’t a safe place for them.
  • Using the ter’angreal, they continue to communicate with Egwene in the dream, but also spy on the Tower. They learn of the rebel Aes Sedai from notes in Elaida’s room in Tel’aran’rhiod, but Nynaeve can’t remember the name “Salidar,” so they’re forced to simply run and hide from the enemies on all sides: the Tower, Moghedien, Whitecloaks, and the followers of the Prophet.
  • They run into Galad by chance and flee: Elayne explains that Galad always does what’s right, regardless of the cost, and he may decide to turn them in to the Whitecloaks or to forcibly return them to Caemlyn. To hide, they join a menagerie and live for a while as performers. The stress and discomfort of hiding and waiting pulls at them, causing a lot of bickering.
  • Nynaeve, with Birgitte, encounters Moghedien again and is brutally defeated. Birgitte is cast out from the dream and only saved by Elayne binding her as a Warder (without asking.) Nynaeve is humiliated and terrified and spends much of the book trying to overcome her fear.
  • The Prophet of the Dragon is, as we already figured out in the last book, Masema, and he’s in charge of Samara and the surrounding region (the menagerie is just outside of the city.) He’s extremely zealous and unpredictable: he believes that he’s doing the Dragon’s work and helping the people, and perhaps to some extent he is, but he’s also radicalizing the people and destabilizing the region. Combined with the refugee crisis and general instability of the region, the city is on the verge of complete disaster.
  • Uno and Ragan are in Samara too, and they want to help Nynaeve and Elayne. Galad also finds them there and wants to help as well. Nynaeve tells both groups to find her a ship. Unfortunately, a dispute over this ship, the Riverserpant, is the spark that finally ignites crowds into violent riots. Our heroes manage to escape, but they leave behind a terrible wake of death and misery.
  • They finally make it to Salidar only to find a reception similar to Siuan and Leane: they are questioned, never thanked or praised, and simply returned to their status as Accepted. The cuendillar broke before they arrived, as the seals are weakening.
  • Nynaeve and Elayne are teaching both the Aes Sedai and Siuan about Tel’aran’rhiod.
  • While teaching Siuan, Nynaeve and Moghedien fight again. Despite her fear, Nynaeve gets the upper hand by conjuring an a’dam to enslave Moghedien. Using her power, she manages to help Rand in a pivotal moment. She spares Moghedien’s life, simply making her drink forkroot: we don’t yet know whether Nynaeve is able to capture the sleeping Moghedien outside of the dream.
  • It hasn’t really been significant yet, but Elayne thinks that she can make angreal, which nobody has been able to do in a very long time.
• Rand and his followers continue their conquest.
  • They must first follow Couladin, who has declared himself He Who Comes With the Dawn and Car’a’carn. Couladin is about a week ahead of them, heading towards Jangai pass and then on to Cairhien, the land of the “tree-killers” whom the Aiel particularly hate.
  • The Aiel as a whole are split into a few groups: those that follow Rand, those that follow Couladin, those that succumb to the bleakness, and a few undecided clans. Rand’s forces are the greatest by far, but not by enough to ensure victory over both Couladin and the undecided clans. The bleakness is an ailment brought on by Rand’s revelation of the truth he learned at Rhuidean that causes some Aiel to abandon their lives as Aiel and leave, unable to face the paradoxical shame that the Aiel once followed the Way of the Leaf and that they abandoned it.
  • Rand continues to receive lessons from Asmodean.
  • The power dynamic between Moiraine and Rand shifts: Moiraine is now obeying his commands and acting more as an advisor and teacher than as a puppeteer.
  • Throughout the book, Rand continually struggles with his identity as Lews Therin’s personality intrudes more and more into his thoughts. In moments of stress, he slips further into Lews Therin’s identity, sometimes even forgetting that he is Rand al’Thor for a moment.
  • Couladin is particularly cruel to the Wetlanders. The other Aiel note that he has abaondoned Ji’e’toh when they see that he’s taking gai’shain from tree-killers: he’s no better than a slaver.
  • Rand walks in on Aviendha bathing and she accidentally Travels to a continent far to the west, filled with Seanchan, snow, and some kind of dragon or wyvern riders. Rand holds her gate open and follows, saving her from freezing to death in the snow. The Seanchan encounter them briefly. Rand and Aviendha have sex in an igloo before returning, Aviendha owes Elayne toh.
  • The battle for Cairhien is extraordinarily bloody. The battle includes hundreds of thousands of combatants, easily the largest battle since Artur Hawkwing.
    • Rand, Egwene, and Aviendha channel fire and lightning down on the battlefield from a tower with telescopes.
    • Sammael, presumably, channels against Rand from a distance, nearly killing him, Egwene, and Aviendha.
    • Rand nearly burns himself out during the battle.
    • Mat tries to flee the region, but accidentally becomes a general to the Tairen and Cairhienin forces. He also kills Couladin. Despite not wanting to be part of all this, he winds up a war hero and the leader of the Band of the Red Hand.
    • The battle is won: Rand has Cairhien.
  • Rand spends some time consolidating power and rebuilding the region while plotting against Sammael.
  • Rand asserts that Cairhien will maintain its own honor and identity, he is the ruler but he is not taking the throne as king. He thanks the Tairen for their contribution, but does not intend for them to rule Cairhien as conquerors.
  • Melindhra, who Mat has been sleeping with for a while now, betrays and tries to kill Mat. She was a Darkfriend and her dagger marked her as working for Sammael. Mat hates hurting or killing women, but he kills Melindhra in self-defense.
  • Rand learns that Morgase is “dead,” and feels as though he failed Elayne by ignoring Rahvin for so long. Near madness, he intends to kill him that very night, but Moiraine talks him into waiting until the next day.
  • Lanfear learns that Rand had sex with Aviendha and flies into a jealous rage. She defeats Rand, Egwene, and Aviendha, and is only stopped from killing them when Moiraine sacrifices herself to throw them both into the red door ter’angreal, killing them both (“off-screen” though, so we’ll see if it sticks.) Rand could have stopped Lanfear if he hadn’t hesitated to kill a woman.
  • In a letter Rand reads after Moiraine’s death, she explains that she learned of what would happen the day after Rand learned of Morgase’s “death” in Rhuidean and embraced this destiny willingly as the best option available. This is also why she changed her behavior towards Rand, and she’s learned that he must be free to his destiny.
  • Lan leaves to find the Aes Sedai he’s been bound to following Moiraine’s death. He tells Rand that they are both followed by death and should not have any relationships with women. He wants Rand to tell Nynaeve that he found someone else and she should move on. Rand does tell her this… but he makes it pretty obvious that Lan is just trying to protect her (and himself.)
  • Rand continues with the plan to kill Rahvin. Note that I don’t think there’s any actual connection to King Arthur’s fatal Battle of Camlann here.
    • He manages to take Aviendha, Egwene, Asmodean, and many Aiel straight to Caemlyn via Skimming.
    • Rand’s move was anticipated here and trapped: Aviendha, Egwene, and Asmodean are killed in the initial counter-attack.
    • Rand, in a rage, Travels directly to the throne room to duel Rahvin. Like Ba’alzamon, Rahvin flees into Tel’aran’rhiod in the flesh and Rand follows.
    • Rand doesn’t know the rules of the Dream and Rahvin manages to defeat him by changing him into things. He first tries to transform him into Lews Therin, which Lews Therin himself does not seem to want, and Rand shakes it off. He then transforms Rand into an animal that cannot channel, defeating Rand.
    • This is where Nynaeve and Moghedien come in: Nynaeve attacks Rahvin, burning him a bit, but more importantly distracting him from Rand.
    • Rand hits Rahvin with the strongest balefire he can muster, erasing him far enough back to un-kill Egwene, Aviendha, and Asmodean.
    • Rand wins the day and has Caemlyn.
    • As in Cairhien, Rand is the ruler, but he does not want individual ownership of the city. He asserts that Caemlyn has a queen, and that is Elayne.
  • Rand announces his plan to provide amnesty for all men who can channel if they come to him for instruction.
  • In the last bit, Asmodean’s inner thoughts show that he still reveres The Great Lord. Then he’s killed by someone he recognized, but we don’t know who (my money’s on Fain.)

What is The Fires of Heaven about?

If not The Fires of Heaven, book five could have been called High and Low. If you haven’t seen High and Low, you should, it’s a great Kurosawa film. The movie follows a wealthy executive’s – Kingo Gondo’s – struggle to preserve the long-term goals of the company, National Shoes, as a rival internal faction pushes for greater short-term gains via cheaper production. Things grow complicated when his son is kidnapped for ransom, only it turns out that the kidnapper grabbed the wrong kid. He winds up paying the ransom anyways, which plunges him into debt and gets him forced out of the company, yet the public sees him as a hero and the company as a villain. Gondo and the police eventually catch the kidnapper, who first says that he regrets nothing and was turned to crime due to the injustice of seeing Gondo’s elaborate mansion on the hill overlooking the city. In the end, the kidnapper breaks down, finally facing his utter failure. Gondo winds up working a lower-paying job at a rival company, but enjoys the freedom he has there.

Throughout the film, both the cinematography and the plot call attention to the different situations between the wealthy people in the fancy mansion on a hill and the meager, grimy state of those living in poverty in the city. Much of what makes the film so great is that it doesn’t really have a simple moral: it just shows the stark differences between those up high and those down low. There are good and bad people on both levels and the same people can move between levels depending on circumstance. Yet, regardless of individual circumstances, things are sharply different on the hill and in the city. High and Low.

That’s also the primary theme of The Fires of Heaven, the juxtaposition between those with power and those without and the juxtaposition between extreme wealth and extreme poverty. We see this from several angles.

Moiraine

Trust no woman fully who is now Aes Sedai. I do not speak simply of the Black Ajah, though you must always be watchful for them. Be as suspicious of Verin as you are of Alviarin. We have made the world dance as we sang for three thousand years. That is a difficult habit to break, as I have learned while dancing to your song. You must dance free, and even the best intentioned of my sisters may well try to guide your steps as I once did.

From Moiraine’s letter to Rand, read following her death

For the past four books, Moiraine has enjoyed a great deal of control and respect from those around her. I’ve mentioned before that she’s really her own worst enemy: her obsession with being in control, not just over people but over information, has caused several problems for her own mission. It’s only after Rhuidean, when she learns of her death, that she finally learns that she needs to give up some control if she wants to succeed. To her credit, she does so, proving that her obsession with power truly is only in service to her mission, rather than a personal desire.

What’s great about this is that it works! In giving up some power – climbing down from the heights she placed herself in – she wins Rand’s cooperation. She kills Lanfear, perhaps the most dangerous threat to her plans that we’ve encountered thus far, and she manages to teach Rand as much as he can bear in the time allotted. Rand even weeps at her death, and this is new, hard Rand, who stares at executions he ordered without outward emotion.

Fun side note, Moiraine gives away that she knew that Alviarin is of the Black Ajah in this letter, though I’m not sure that Rand picked up on it.

Nynaeve

Nynaeve finally gets some real character growth this book. After four books of bullying everyone around her, never admitting when she makes a mistake, and generally being too angry to be competent, she… well, she’s doing a bit better!

Even before the catalytic moment with Moghedien and Birgitte, Nynaeve started to understand that occasionally admitting fault and trying to see her own role in her bickering with Elayne and Egwene could be useful. What’s really impressive here to me is that she specifically starts figuring this out after feeling so inadequate before Egwene that she lies to her. Rather than simply hiding her lie or shaking it off, she apologies. Egwene, of course, acts like a child in response, but Nynaeve finds the integrity to still take the lesson to heart. I want to really emphasize this: Nynaeve has some serious character flaws, but this exact situation is when I’d expect an arrogant, hypocritical person to double down the most. She feels inadequate compared to Egwene, someone she used to take care of, and she realizes that she told a lie to protect her image. A person with less integrity would have come up with some excuse, but the moment that Nynaeve realizes what she’s doing, she instantly takes steps to remedy it.

After losing to Moghedien and getting Birgitte thrown out of the Dream, Nynaeve is struck by her own “cowardice.” Here, we really see Nynaeve struggle with a problem that can’t be solved with anger and violence. She breaks down in tears and allows herself to be comforted. She actually does this multiple times, also breaking down in the arms of the fellow wilder when she fails to make progress in breaking down her barrier… or at least believes that she’s failed.

That belief, really, is the key here, I think. Nynaeve is not a coward and I imagine that she’s making as good of progress as anyone towards removing her block. Birgitte really says it best when Nynaeve quickly throws together a plan to take Moghedien to Caemlyn to help Rand: “Oh, Nynaeve, it is such an embarrassment being associated with such a coward as you.”

Here, Nynaeve is being forced to confront the dissonance between her arrogant self-image and reality. She became Wisdom when she was very young, she’s used to being treated like a prodigy and being seen as extremely tough for her age. She absolutely is, but she’s not in Emond’s Field anymore. Anyone who ever grew up being told they were smart or talented who then moved on to a career where everyone is smart and talented in the same way should be able to empathize here. Until now, Nynaeve has still been seeing herself as the Wisdom: smarter and more in-control than anyone around her and easily the match of any other woman. Now, she’s coming to recognize that she has faults and might need help from others. Even the tactic she uses to capture Moghedien felt like growth to me: she crawls towards her, begging mercy, before conjuring the a’dam to enslave her. If it hadn’t worked, this would’ve been one of the lowest moments for Nynaeve… but it’s in this moment that she not only defeats Moghedien, but takes advantage of her to save Rand.

I also want to point out here that I’m pretty sure that Nynaeve was too young to realize how much support she was getting as Wisdom, which would also explain some of her conceit. Remember how much support Perrin got in the last book? Perrin was acutely aware of just how much support he was getting from his elders, but Perrin’s a lot more mature than Nynaeve (and more so when she first became Wisdom, I’m sure.) I imagine that where Nynaeve saw herself taking charge through sheer force of will, there were actually a bunch of adults supporting her while recognizing that she’s grow out of this eventually.

Mat

Mat’s version of this is probably the most comical. While trying to flee the battle for Cairhien, he accidentally becomes the general for both the Tairen and Cairhienin forces: essentially all non-Aiel combatants. He wins the day and kills Couladin. It’s hard to tell, but he may very well have played a larger role than Rand in winning the battle. “I’m no blood hero” indeed.

Mat also continues to serve as a good perspective for seeing what Rand looks like from the outside. We get glimpses from Egwene’s perspective as well… but they’re heavily colored by her own stupidity and arrogance. Mat, on the other hand, is still holding on to his life from before the books started, however much he’s actually changed. This gives us another high and low juxtaposition: Mat enjoys a great deal of respect and freedom, but he’s not the Car’a’carn. From Rand’s point of view, Rand is just barely holding things together and the respect of his position seems ridiculous to him. He’s doing a better job of filling the role than Perrin did, but his inner thoughts show us how much he hates having people bow and scrape like dogs before him. Mat’s perspective shows us that, whatever Rand thinks, the people around him definitely see him as fitting the role.

Mat also gives us a good example of how, despite his reluctance, Rand is definitely changing to be more cunning. Mat is clever, but we don’t really see him do any scheming. Rand, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of sending in Lan to chat with Mat to get a sense for Mat’s magically granted knowledge of battle. It’s kind of sad, really, as it seems like both Mat and Rand could really use a normal friend right now, but they’ve both come to see each other in a completely different way. Mat sees Rand as kind of a monster that he needs to flee from if he wants to have any control over his life (not really understanding yet that they’re all caught in the pattern and only have a limited degree of real agency, but that this is – in a way – still more than normal people get.) Mat’s fear is that he’s going to be manipulated like a piece in Rand’s game. Meanwhile, Rand… has come to see Mat as basically a piece in his game. He doesn’t like it, but he recognizes it. What I really love here is that they both come to more-or-less the same conclusion, but from completely different directions.

While we’re talking about Mat, I love how, in this book, Mat’s finally being forced to confront the question: “Are you drawn to the thick of battles, or are they drawn to you?” (asked by Moiraine.) Mat’s fighting it hard, but he’s starting to acknowledge that he’s not getting away from this fate, and that his love of gambling might not be at odds with his prowess in war.

“Mat was caught up in it, now. He more than merely liked gambling, and battle was a gamble to make dicing in taverns a thing for children and toothless invalids. Lives were the stake here, your own and other men’s, men who were not even there. Make the wrong wager, a foolish bet, and cities died, or whole nations. Natael’s somber music was fit accompaniment. At the same time, this was a game that set the blood racing.”

Elaida vs Siuan

So, did anyone else notice that Elaida’s a lot less scary as Amyrlin than she was before? Stilling Siuan and Leane was a major blow, but since then, she really hasn’t felt like much of a threat. Of course, she’s diverting the attention of nearly all of the Aes Sedai from helping Rand, so she’s still causing problems, but her power is slipping quickly. As Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne continue to spy on her, they occasionally note fewer and fewer seats in the office and continually more desperate notes on her desk. Before becoming Amyrlin, I was definitely worried that Elaida was going to be a real problem. Of course, she may still be so, but it doesn’t seem like her new power has really helped her at all.

Meanwhile, Siuan’s lost about as much as a person can lose, yet she’s still pulling the strings of everything the rebel Aes Sedai do without them even realizing it. Before she found her way to Salidar, the Aes Sedai really had no idea what to do, yet within hours of her arrival they had plans and motivation. I wouldn’t say that Siuan is necessarily more powerful after being stilled, but it hardly seems like her influence has diminished at all.

Rand

Ah, Rand, there’s plenty to say about him in this book, but with regard to the High and Low theme, what I want to call attention to is the source of his power and his greatest enemy in The Fires of Heaven. In both cases, it’s Lews Therin Telamon.

As the Dragon Reborn, both Rand’s Power and his power (magical strength and political influence) come from him being Lews Therin reincarnated. As his memories of being Lews Therin continue to surface, he’s also granted the benefit of knowledge: he knows things about channeling and about the Forsaken that he could not know without these memories from Lews Therin.

Yet, in each of Rand’s most dire moments this book, the most significant danger comes from this same source.

We learn that Rand’s aversion to killing women isn’t just his Two Rivers upbringing. We get a good counter-example to this in Mat, who hates killing women, but has no problem doing so without thinking when he needs to. “I don’t kill women! I kiss them” sounds a bit hollow when said over the corpse of a woman that Mat was sleeping with for what must have been at least a few months at this point. Yet, Rand fails to kill Lanfear in a moment even more dire than this: he couldn’t have known what Moiraine intended to do, but he surely knew that Lanfear would torture and kill not only him but also Egwene and Aviendha. Mat might hate it, but he can kill a woman to save himself, Rand can’t even kill a woman to save his closest friend and his lover. Each time Rand hits this block, it’s made clear why: he can’t stop remembering when Lews Therin murdered Ilyena.

It’s not just his memory of killing Ilyena either, it’s also the very real fear that he’ll lose himself in Lews Therin. In the duel with Rahvin, Rand nearly loses just after entering Tel’aran’rhiod when Rahvin tries to twist him into Lews Therin’s form. In this moment, Rand is completely helpless: he’s only saved by Lews Therin himself rejecting the transformation.

The power gained and struggle against Lews Therin is mirrored in Rand’s connection to saidin. Whereas women must submit to saidar, men must constantly struggle not to be scoured away by saidin. This is why Rand left the sa’angreal he’s found in Tear and Rhuidean: he’s not sure that he can handle that much power. A moment of distraction is all it would take to be burnt away. He has access to power that we still can’t really wrap our minds around: I bet that he could’ve won the Battle for Cairhien by himself in a single flash if he’d held either of his sa’angreal, but he’s not willing to take this risk.

Riches and Poverty

Throughout The Fires of Heaven, we’re given many scenes of both extravagant wealth and extreme poverty. By the end of the book, Rand has toured the thrones of Tear, Cairhien, and Caemlyn – as well as the newly opened city of Rhuidean. Attention is given to the jewels, artwork, and other forms of visible wealth in the throne rooms.

Side note: I used to think that such displays of wealth by kings and queens were merely to inflate the ego, but it’s actually an important part of demonstrating legitimacy in manorialism. A leader that can afford to not only purchase but also secure such extravagant treasures must be powerful. Rivals, allies, and servants all need this reminder, lest they begin to believe that they can afford to contest the ruler’s authority. Of course, the form of this is different for different societies. The constant press of the Blight and the militaristic code of honor in Shienar likely lessens the need for jewels, but in places like Cairhien and Caemlyn, where Daes Dae’mar runs rampant, such displays are not optional for a ruler who wishes to stay in power.

Nonetheless, we see Rand conquer such treasures without any real emotion. He has no desire for such things, he’s just focused on his mission. “If the only way I can find time and peace for the world is to impose it, I will. I don’t want to, but I will.” In each country that he conquers, whenever he has time, Rand does what he can to help the poor. Despite quickly rising to a height of power that hasn’t been seen in millennia, Rand still identifies with farmers.

Meanwhile, with Nynaeve and Elayne’s story, we see the opposite end of this spectrum: real poverty. We see prices shifting due to the wars, making essentials like food expensive and luxuries relatively worthless. The riots in Samara couldn’t possibly be as bloody as the battles in Rand’s campaign, but they’re clearly terrible, and they’re sparked over very little. The violence can be blamed, in part, on the Riverserpent, on the Whitecloaks, and on the Prophet, but the reality is that these forces wouldn’t have anywhere near this influential if the people were all housed, well-fed, and safe. What’s more, whereas Rand still identifies with farmers, Elayne doesn’t even quite realize just how little she knows about common people. Now, to be clear here, Elayne isn’t oblivious: she’s not being trained to be a king’s ornament, she’s being trained to be the Queen of Andor. She has a much better understanding of economics and commerce than our other characters, what she lacks is any first-hand experience dealing with common people. Nynaeve is constantly frustrated by how free Elayne is with money. In fairness, Nynaeve’s frustrated stinginess is its own problem, but this dichotomy serves to focus our attention on this topic.

I don’t think it’s an accident that Jordan spends so much time showing us how Nynaeve and Elayne struggle with money. I think we’re meant to compare this situation directly with Rand’s, where money is hardly a concern at all. Rand is concerned with broad questions of legitimacy, where wealth is nothing but a secondary means to avoiding violent conflict. If necessary, he’ll try to use the Power to bring everyone in line, but whenever possible he’ll rely on political maneuvering and the loyalty of his retainers, which is partially secured by wealth, not just in the form of payment but as a demonstration of legitimacy. Rand hardly even talks about money if he can help it, and when he can he mostly treats it as a side project for humanitarian causes. Remember back in The Great Hunt when Rand didn’t really get why he’d need fancy coats and a banner? Well, Moiraine knew. For all my frustration with Moiraine’s secrecy and egomania, she was thinking about book five way back in book two (almost certainly even earlier, really.)

Meanwhile, Nynaeve and Elayne are worried about money. They need enough for their journey. They see people dying over food or dying because they cannot afford to flee. When they finally manage to board the Riverserpent, it’s only because of their connections to important people. Really keep that in mind: their ability to channel didn’t help them and they weren’t particularly cunning, the only reason they managed to escape the riots alive was because of their connections to Andor and Shienar. This reliance on wealth and political connections is hardly unique to Elayne and Nynaeve, but it’s easier to spot from down low.

Let’s ruin the Aiel!

So, I think now is a good time to talk a bit more about the Aiel. I’ve mentioned it before, but I have some problems with the Aiel. Specifically, they’re yet another result of a fantasy that’s been widely believed for thousands of years: that “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times.”

This is explained at length in Devereaux’s Fremen Mirage posts. If you want a thorough and compelling argument dispelling this myth, read this series. I’ll touch on it here, but Devereaux, being a historian, makes a much better argument than I could. Though, honestly, a lot of this argument is just common sense. I mean, do the Aiel make sense, just given a layperson’s understanding of physiology or of history?

First off, we have their unbelievable physical attributes.

People can absolutely outdistance animals over a long distance, most fast animals are only fast in short bursts, but it’s been mentioned many times that the Aiel can catch up to a horse quickly. They can keep up this pace for days, and they can do so with the meager nutrition available in the harsh Waste. It doesn’t matter how badass you are, you can’t run as fast as a horse for weeks with poor nutrition. Even if you somehow could, you certainly couldn’t do things like that habitually, for years, and continue to be able to. If you didn’t starve to death or die from heatstroke, you’d at least ruin your knees. A person today, wearing expensive running shoes and eating an expensive diet, can easily become permanently injured just trying to run for leisure if they’re not careful.

Note, by the way, that although the Aiel have some clever forms of agriculture, their yields are clearly not going to remotely approach that of better land. There’s a reason why wealthy people form permanent settlements on good land while poor people are forced into nomadic shepherding on marginal land. The Aiel cannot possibly produce similar food to the people living outside of the Waste. There are also a lot of Aiel, so we cannot hand-wave this by assuming that there just aren’t as many people to feed. We don’t have many figures for Aiel population, but we know that Couladin had “nearly one hundred and sixty thousand spears”. It’s certainly possible to feed this many people in a harsh environment… but not if they’re all constantly running ultramarathons.

Or, how about the sun? The Aiel have light hair and tanned skin, right? Not black, but tanned. Now, I’m a person with red hair and light skin and I got a sunburn walking just a few miles yesterday, while wearing sunscreen. The cadin’sor would help with this, but it’s not going to do anything for the eyes. Now, perhaps the Aiel simply don’t live very long… but we meet quite a few older Aiel. Granted, from Rand’s perspective there’s going to be some selection bias in meeting the elders, so perhaps the average Aiel age is fairly young, but I really haven’t gotten this impression.

Then there’s the Aiel’s idealized noble-savage ethics.

How about their fighting style being so superior to that of the Wetlanders? The Aiel kit is clearly inferior to that of the people they’re attacking. The cadin’sor is mostly just loose cloth, not even hardened textiles. Armor works, and the Aiel are basically not wearing any. We have pretty good historical data that an imbalance like this makes a huge difference in battle. We don’t get a full description of the Cairhienin kits, but it’s clearly at least hardened textiles, if not metal armor. There’s nothing wrong with spears, but we know that Aiel spears are generally short, which might be good for light skirmishes and raids, but it’s not ideal for fighting armored people in formation. How are Couladin’s soldiers making such remarkable gains with such an immense disadvantage?

That’s just the kit, what about the training and formations? In Cairhien, the Aiel are in unfamiliar terrain fighting people at home. Fortified homes. And the Aiel are still amazed at any body of water too large to jump across. What’s more, the Cairhienin and Tairen have cavalry and the Aiel do not. Again, this makes a huge difference. The only real historical example of a nomadic people handily defeating settled people that I’m aware of is the Mongols, and they had cavalry (and really complex and clever political structures… and made use of local forces when suitable.) We see that the Wetlanders have very poor discipline: running out of formation for glory or taking unnecessary time to get into position. This could explain some of the issues… but why are the Wetlanders so bad at war? They’re at war all the time, why do they seem unfamiliar with it?

Granted, Couladin is arriving at a particularly hard time for Cairhien. This can explain a lot of the poor performance of the Cairhienin soldiers… but, if anything, they should be pretty well disciplined and hardened by battle by this point. I could buy that the Cairhienin are too hungry to fight well and the Tairen are too eager to join the battle, but it really seems like they’re all just bad soldiers in need of foreigners to come in and show them how it’s done. Bear in mind that although some of the Tairen might be a bit eager to join the war before they miss their chance, Tear is a strongly militaristic society. These people are familiar with war. Perhaps a couple of individual Tairen lords could be incompetent, but the overwhelming majority of them should be well familiar with how battles are fought.

So, why are the Aiel better than everyone else?

So, I’m kind of on a roll here, but now would be a good time to sit back for a moment and remember that this is a fantasy universe: we can come up with plenty of answers for why the Aiel are so great. Perhaps the Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends found a way to genetically cure sun damage and joint problems. Perhaps the Wise Ones have special healing techniques. Or, maybe the sun issue is event simpler: we know that Rand has fairly light skin, but we also know that he’s only half Aiel. Perhaps the Aiel as a whole look more like red headed people from Asia.

But, what about the discipline? Why are the Wetlanders corrupt and undisciplined whereas the Aiel are noble?

This is where we really need to confront that even if there’s an in-universe answer, this is all a decision by Robert Jordan, and he’s referencing some very old tropes. The Wetlanders are undisciplined and foolish because they’re soft men, spoiled by decadence, whereas the Aiel have been hardened by the Waste. I mean, it’s pretty clear that Jordan had a copy of Dune open on his desk (right next to The Lord of the Rings) when he was writing, and the Aiel are pretty much the Fremen.

This is an idea that feels intuitive, but it really just doesn’t manifest when looking at broad trends. Sure, an individual might benefit from a little hardship, but they just as well might benefit from some more support. Being constantly alert for threats on all sides might make one person tough while simply unraveling the nerves of someone else. Likewise, safety and support may make one person lazy and entitled while providing another with the resources to thrive.

Now, I don’t think that Jordan was completely oblivious when writing the Aiel. In some ways, I think he was deliberately taking this trope and showing it to us in a slightly different light. First off, the Aiel are others, similar to the Fremen, but Rand doesn’t try to integrate and become their Muad’Dib. Unlike the Fremen, the Aiel – at least some of them – are described as being more white than many of our other characters. Don’t let yourself forget that most of the people from Emond’s Field have dark skin: Rand is the exception because he looks like an Aiel. I’m… not sure what, if anything, all of this really means for the portrayal of the Fremen, but I don’t think that this is simply a mindless example of the Fremen Mirage.

Furthermore, the Aiel actually do have some real flaws. They’re very tribal, both within their own societies and clans and without, still seeing the Cairhienin as nothing but “tree killers”, to be treated as criminals all because of the actions of a single king. The notion of Ji’e’toh has a nice romantic quality to it, but it’s… pretty toxic. One thing I like about the Aiel is that, if you ignore their unique physiology and military prowess, they’re actually not really better or worse than anyone else: just different. Ji’e’toh can mean unnecessary deaths or even wars: that’s bad no matter how you look at it. But, upon encountering some Tairen lords for the first time since entering the Waste, Rand is immediately struck by how disgusting the power hierarchies are outside of the Waste.

…that all said, I think the notion that people are surprised by Couladin taking people Gai’shain just to take slaves is kind of ridiculous. I don’t care how supposedly noble the Aiel are, they have a society where willing slaves are a crucial part of day-to-day life. How willing is it really? What happens if one clan doesn’t take many Gai’shain for a while due to simple bad luck? Wouldn’t their day-to-day operations suffer terribly? They could reassign people from other societies to take over the duties, but how would they feel about it? This really feels like a system that works on paper, but in practice it’s just incredibly easy to take advantage of.

Does this matter?

So, we’re mostly just chatting about The Wheel of Time for entertainment and maybe some learning, but I want to emphasize here that this trope – “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times” – isn’t just wrong, it’s also a real problem. Again, you should just read the series on the Fremen Mirage for a more thorough analysis, but if you think about it, you’ve probably seen some real modern social and political movements rooted in this idea. As I’m writing this, everyone is still laughing about Tucker Carlson’s ridiculous testicle-tanning trailer for the “End of Men” series he’s publishing.

I really don’t want to derail this whole post with a bit about gender in the United States, but in brief: I know this seems funny, but a lot of people take this sort of hyper-masculine propaganda very seriously. The United States is having a major crisis deciding where men fit into modern society, and there really isn’t a good community approaching the problem constructively and for its own sake. Most of the loudest voices talking about masculinity right now are either a bizarre, hyper-masculine con-artist just looking for a vulnerable mark or a vindictive social-media-activist who can’t tell the difference between an elderly, wealthy sex-criminal and a young guy trying to figure out why he can’t get a date.

Now, you may be wondering how this applies to the Aiel, given that they enjoy a decent level of balance between men and women. I’d agree that this casts the trope in a different light, and I think that it’s interesting to consider a hyper-masculine trope applied without the explicit gender roles, but this doesn’t erase the fact that the trope is still hyper-masculine.

Caught between these extremes, the inconsistent position on the Fremen Mirage between these two extremes is confusing. For the hyper-masculine grifters, it’s exactly what you’d expect: this fallacy is basically their exact position, so the literary trope is great propaganda for them. Now, given this dichotomy, you would expect the more progressive side to see the Fremen Mirage as a dangerous, toxic, and downright stupid idea… but, I really don’t see this at all. If anything, my anecdotal observation is that progressive people, including women, really love this trope. They may be aware that it’s silly, but it’s just fantasy, so it doesn’t matter to them.

Well, what is a young man supposed to make of this? In one ear he’s hearing that this trope is an ancient truth and that he should tune in to the modern version of it to learn how to be a real man. In the other ear, he’s hearing the very people who keep telling him how toxic his gender is talking about how cool the Aiel, Fremen, and Klingon are.

Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t like the Aiel. I like the Aiel. They’re neat! Much better than the Fremen in any case. Just… make yourself aware of this trope. It’s not merely a literary trope, but a very old political force that’s been used to push dangerous and misguided ideologies for literally thousands of years. What we read in fiction contextualizes what we encounter in real life. To be clear, I think that Robert Jordan was probably aware of the flaws he gave to the Aiel and didn’t see them as aspirational. He event demonstrates this with the Bleakness as the Aiel struggle to come to terms with their own violent nature and whether it is more shameful to have once followed the Way of the Leaf or to have abandoned it. The Aiel are really interesting and I don’t think that they’re bad – just that there are a few issues and that it’s important for fans to really consider the Aiel as a whole, rather than focus solely on their badass, hyper-masculine traits.

Let’s ruin the Aes Sedai!

What I really want to talk about here is just how terribly… familiar the Aes Sedai are.

Note that this section discusses sexual violence, so skip ahead to the next section on Egwene if you don’t want to read that.

Is it fair to assume that we’re on the same page when I say that the Aes Sedai are basically a corrupt oligarchy where power comes from Power rather than wealth?

It’s hard not to think of some of the worst aspects of modern American government too. More specifically, the Aes Sedai are an old boys club comprised of women. There’s a bit of inspiration from the Catholic church in here as well, particularly in the standard methods of addressing and being addressed by the Aes Sedai: all honorifics are explicitly gendered, familial, and condescending. The organization is filled with corruption with plenty of opportunity for abuse of power. Every Aes Sedai is familiar with how bad this is but they are all either actively participating or keeping quiet about it.

Note, for example, that it’s simply common knowledge among the Aes Sedai that the Red Ajah simply enjoys abusing and killing young boys and everyone’s more-or-less fine with it and perfectly willing to cover it up when it happens. Moiraine is only willing to blow the whistle as a tool to manipulate Thom, and only because she knows that it won’t really matter. Siuan never even thinks of it as far as we can see, but she must be aware. We also know that even within the Tower, abusing anyone below your rank is completely common and mostly just seen as a rite of passage. There’s no real system to prevent someone from tormenting a lower-ranking person purely out of personal spite, and this torment can be pretty bad, ranging from assigning unpleasant or degrading work to spankings.

Oh, yeah, the spankings: those are very common. Now, this is a bit tricky, as this really seems like just a personal fetish that Jordan had, but… I mean, it’s hard to see this as anything other than sexual abuse. We’re not talking about giving a child a spanking, we’re talking about an adult calling another adult into a closed room to spank them – in private – without any real system of oversight or reporting. There are plenty of ways to punish a person, even physically punish, that aren’t ambiguously sexual. I really don’t think that it’s valid to conclude that all of these spankings are purely non-sexual punishment. Moreover, this is a system where the opportunity for sexual abuse is rampant and there’s no real system for cracking down on it when it does happen: I think we can safely conclude that the Aes Sedai aren’t somehow immune to only this specific form of corruption. Bear in mind that the Tower is perfectly willing to cover up the Reds torturing and killing young boys for no reason, so why would they be any more ethical about sexual abuse?

While we’re at it, how often does the Red’s abuse of boys turn sexual? We don’t see it, but it seems all but certain that the women going around torturing and killing boys just for fun with no consequences aren’t going to feel like making it sexual is too far over the line: they’re already killing these people. Bear in mind, too, that even the Greens – who “love men” – see it as perfectly acceptable to publicly rank the appearance and prowess of the young men they plan on enslaving (oh, I’m sorry, they’re willing slaves.) Yeah, given what we know about the Aes Sedai’s position on sexism and abuse of power, I really can’t imagine that things don’t get a bit darker behind closed doors.

So, the Aes Sedai are just as gross as the worst institutes we have today in terms of corruption and abuse, but in The Fires of Heaven we really get to see that they’re really incompetent too.

The treatment of Siuan and Leane really makes this clear. It’d be one thing if they were treated poorly because the rebel Aes Sedai see Siuan as having committed a great crime, but they mostly seem to believe that the coup was just an attempt by Elaida to seize power. They might not all condone everything Siuan did, but their poor treatment of Siuan doesn’t seem to have much to do with this. No, they’re treating Siuan poorly simply because she was stilled. In a club of wealthy oligarchs, she’s suddenly finding herself broke.

I called this out before when talking about how terrible Gawyn is, but Siuan is still an immensely important person. The Aes Sedai can sit comfortably knowing that they can pry any information they need out of her via questioning – indeed, they threat Siuan with torture almost immediately upon learning that she might know some things they don’t know – but she’ll clearly be of more use as a willing partner. For most of what they’re currently doing, the Power isn’t even much of an asset: they’re gathering an army and plotting the best course of action, this is a matter of strategy and planning and Siuan’s abilities here have not been diminished at all. Indeed, Siuan is still pulling most of the strings and the Aes Sedai don’t even seem to notice!

So, put that all together and you have a hodgepodge of every terrible bureaucracy in the modern world: the worst parts of the police, the Catholic church, and congress.

To be clear, I think this is great writing! The Aes Sedai are perfect as an evil organization that is, regrettably, the lesser of the available evils. Moreover, much of the political content of The Wheel of Time comes from shuffling around the identities within familiar institutions. It’s interesting to see a female-dominated organization that’s just as gross as some of the male-dominated ones IRL. If the Aes Sedai weren’t terrible, that would be a statement that women are inherently less prone to corruption and abuse than men. If you’re finding yourself disagreeing with this take and believing that the Aes Sedai wouldn’t be involved with sexual abuse and discrimination, ask yourself whether this is simply because you don’t think that women are capable of the same sort of abuse as men when similarly privileged. I mean, maybe I’m just misreading something here, but it really seems like this is kind of the point.

Egwene

While I’m on a roll of just attacking various beloved aspects of The Wheel of Time, let’s talk a bit about Egwene as well.

I think that Egwene is an intentional foil for Lanfear and Liandrin.

I don’t say this because I think she’s “evil,” I say this because of her extreme, reckless ambition, arrogance, and hypocrisy. Egwene doesn’t have any of the cruelty that’s in Lanfear and Liandrin, but other than that she’s very similar.

Perhaps what we know most about Lanfear – Mierin – is that she loves power and is willing to take dangerous risks to gain it. That’s pretty much all that we know about her.

Liandrin is similar, but we know a bit more about her. In chapter 18, we get to see her perspective, and I found it extremely similar to Egwene’s perspective. They have the same way of sizing up everything around them and always coming out superior for it. They have the same way of manufacturing a reason to look down on men even when it’s not really relevant to what they’re doing. In chapter 18, we see Liandrin harshly appraising the home they’re staying in: “A childish pretense at a noble’s manor.” This method of looking down on things in order to feel more worldly and superior really reminds me of how Egwene looks at things.

In this book alone, I noticed several occasions in which Egwene sees something – usually something to do with Rand – and immediately decides that it’s somehow bad and that she’s better than that.

Rand bloody Dragon al’Thor snaps his fingers, and the Maidens jump like serving girls. I’ll wager they’ve found him a real bed, instead of a pallet on the ground. She was sure that he got a hot bath every night. The Maidens probably haul buckets of hot water up to his rooms. I’ll bet they even found him a proper copper bathtub.

Egwene being characteristically wrong about everything

Seriously, Egwene does this all the time. She’s constantly finding a reason to look down her nose at everything going on around her… except for the Aes Sedai, whom Egwene alternates between idolizing and wanting to surpass.

Liandrin had always imagined the Forsaken as close to omnipotent, something far beyond ordinary mortals. Perhaps the woman truly was in flight from the other Forsaken. To hand her over to them would surely earn her a high place. She might even become one of them.

Liandrin simultaneously idolizing and wanting to usurp Moghedien

Egwene just loves that she’s surpassed Nynaeve now (in her mind, at least.)

Guiltily, she realized as she turned a page that she was looking forward to seeing Nynaeve tonight. Not because Nynaeve was a friend, but because she wanted to see if the effects had lingered. If Nynaeve tugged at her braid, she would arch a cool eyebrow at her, and . . .

Egwene looking forward to feeling superior to someone who cares deeply for her

Remember back to when we first met Liandrin? We don’t know much about her backstory, but we know that she learned to use her powers young (though she insists that she’s not a wilder.) She discovered the power to compel very young and just loves the power it gives her. Liandrin had already sworn herself to The Great Lord before even arriving at the Tower and she’s proud of this. Now, when dealing with Moghedien, Liandrin is hungry for the power she might be able to gain here. She’s terrified too, but that doesn’t stop her from trying – and failing – to usurp Moghedien at the first opportunity.

That’s one of your biggest faults, she lectured herself firmly. You always want to do more than you’re supposed to. You ought to wash in cold water; that would teach you self-discipline. Only there was so much to learn, and it sometimes seemed a lifetime would be too short to learn it. Her teachers were always so cautious, whether Wise Ones or Aes Sedai in the Tower; it was hard to hold back when she knew that in so many ways she already outstripped them. I can do more than they realize.

Egwene, trying and failing to find some humility

Again, I don’t mean here that Egwene is evil. Foils aren’t equivalent, they’re the same in some ways and different in others. Egwene is mostly just a pile of character flaws, but she’s not cruel and she has at least some sense of right and wrong. But, she’s just as ambitious and reckless in her ambition as Liandrin and Lanfear. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Egwene wound up becoming a villain, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if she winds up becoming the world’s greatest battle-mage during Tarmon Gai’don. Though, if she can’t get a better handle on her reckless arrogance, she’s going to be a bigger liability than asset to her side.

While we’re talking about Egwene… I just need to call out that she’s easily the most foolish character in the books. I mean, she’s wrong about everything. It’s clearly intentionally comedic: Egwene is a clown. She misinterprets everything going on with Rand, constantly being angry at him over simple misunderstandings that feel like they’re taken from a sitcom. The one thing I would expect her to be good at, understanding Aviendha’s romance problems, completely goes over Egwene’s head. She has no idea that Aviendha likes Rand: she’s convinced that Rand is someone being cruel to her.

She also has Nynaeve’s bad habit of just finding a reason to be hypocritically mad at men whenever she’s bored. This is played for humor with Nynaeve as well. The boys get their own version of this in how each of them thinks that the other two are great with women.

She recognized the dried peppers and beans, but did not ask what the dark meat was. Rabbit, she told herself firmly, and hoped that it was. The Aiel ate things that would put more curl in her hair than Elayne had. She was willing to bet that Rand could not even look at what he was eating. Men were always picky eaters.

Egwene, being a clown

Rand and madness

Going forward, I expect that we’ll need to talk about how crazy Rand is for every book.

First off, we need to consider what going mad will look like, as we really don’t know yet. We know that it results in a lot of murder and destruction that the afflicted does not understand: think back to Lews Therin in the prologue for the first book, walking around looking for family that he’d killed.

We also know that although it’s common for souls to be spun back out into new bodies by the wheel, it is not at all common – perhaps unprecedented – for someone to recall memories from a past life.

So, are Rand’s memories of being Lews Therin a form of madness, or something else?

If we look at the Islamic Shaitan, we might expect that a being named Shaitan might whisper into the ears of people. Perhaps the madness comes on from hearing Shai’tan’s voice more clearly. If this is the case, then perhaps these memories of being Lews Therin are whispers from Shai’tan, meant to confuse and distract.

If the memories of being Lews Therin are a form of madness, then yes, Rand is definitely going mad, and it’s definitely getting worse. Last book, he barely had any at all, and now he’s getting them all the time.

But, what about the other symptoms?

We could definitely point to things like Rand’s temper upon hearing about Morgase’s “death,” or at how he was squeamish over ordering executions in Tear and now he coldly watches them on Cairhien, and conclude that Rand is becoming more angry and cruel. We could look at how Mat and Egwene see him as becoming arrogant and conclude that this, too, is a form of madness. But… I really don’t think so. Honestly, these changes – at this point – seem perfectly understanding for someone under as much pressure as Rand is.

Several years ago, I was working a frustrating and stressful job, dealing with some personal health issues, and dealing with my father’s illness and eventual death. Throughout it all, I had loads of problems with anger. I barely slept and I lashed out over the smallest things. I also often felt as though I was holding everything together myself with a massively inflated sense of self-importance. I wasn’t even the Car’a’carn, much less the Dragon Reborn.

A person in Rand’s position should be expected to change a fair bit, and not always for the better. Note, too, that Egwene and Mat are hardly fair observers. Moiraine and Lan see Rand in a much more positive light as he continues to change. Elayne, too, sees Rand’s hardness as an essential quality in a great leader. We see Rand’s inner thoughts as well, and there we find that he’s well aware of these changes, dislikes them, but can’t see an alternative. This does not seem like madness to me.

So, in short: the memories of being Lews Therin are pretty crazy, but nothing else stands out to me as madness: Rand’s just adapting to his new role as best as he can.