The Wheel of Time: Book Six, Lord of Chaos

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Whew, that’s six – and this one certainly lived up to its title! Today I’m talking about book six of The Wheel of Time, Lord of Chaos. You can catch up on book five here if you haven’t already. You can find the full list of The Wheel of Time posts here.

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. “Quick” Summary
2. What is Lord of Chaos about?
3. Mazrim Taim
4. Egwene
5. Elayne
6. Mat and Olver
7. Lan
8. Herid Fel
9. Perrin and Faile
10. Healing
11. Dumai’s Wells

“Quick” Summary

• Demandred goes to the Pit of Doom to commune with Shai’tan. Several, perhaps all, of the Forsaken have been doing this, but not all receive a response. Demandred does.
  • He meets a particularly tall and strange Myrddraal who the Forsaken must respect named Shaidar Haran, “Hand of the Dark.”
  • All the Forsaken wish to be made Nae’blis, the highest in command under Shai’tan when the darkness wins.
  • Shai’tan has some plan that we don’t hear, except for the command “Let the Lord of Chaos rule.”
• Aran’gar and Osan’gar awaken in new bodies. Osan’gar has a man’s body and Aran’gar has a woman’s. Aran’gar was definitely a man before, and is angry about their new body. From context, Osan’gar seems to have been a man before, as they are not concerned with their new body, and the excuse provided is that these were simply the best bodies available (which wouldn’t make sense if they were a man and a woman with a man and a woman’s bodies, switched) – but it’s possible that this is just dry humor from Shaidar. We don’t know for sure which Forsaken these are, but Shai’tan is unable to reincarnate Rahvin in this way because he was killed with balefire. Moiraine killed Be’lal with balefire, so he’s not an option either. From the wording, it is strongly implied that neither is Lanfear. That leaves Aginor, Balthamel, Ishamael, and Asmodean. Given Shai’tan’s statement that Asmodean was weak, I would guess that neither is Asmodean, but that’s not certain.
  • Aran’gar disguises herself as Halima among the Salidar Aes Sedai. At the very end of the book, she frees Moghedien, telling her that she’s been summoned to Shayol Ghul.
• The weather throughout every country we see – likely the entire world – is altered by Shai’tan. Despite being time for winter, it’s uncomfortably hot. This is not only a constant reminder of the coming apocalypse and a persistent irritation, but a real concern for agriculture that will likely cause massive famine.
• Throughout Lord of Chaos, Rand continually Travels between Cairhien and Caemlyn, trying to hold the political situation together until he can make Elayne Queen of both. The situation is not stable anywhere, as various nobles strive to claim these thrones for themselves. This is not resolved by the end of the book.
  • Berelain and Rhuarc are doing a good job of leading in Cairhien.
  • Elayne is not happy to learn that Rand means to “give” her the thrones.
• Morgase is still alive, but held prisoner by Pedron Niall. Over the course of the book, Niall manages to convince her to sign a contract: the Children of the Light will help her retake Caemlyn, but will leave a garrison behind as well as a court of law, separate from the laws of Andor. Morgase isn’t happy with this arrangement, but sees no alternative, given that she believes that Rand means to keep Caemlyn for himself.
• Davram Bashere, Marshal-General of Saldaea, commands a garrison in Caemlyn. He continues to support Rand.
  • Recall that Davram and Deira are “Zarine’s” parents. Towards the end of the book, they meet Perrin. Despite a confrontational first meeting, the marriage is accepted.
• Egwene continues her training with the Wise Ones until she’s summoned to Salidar. Walking through Tel’aran’rhiod to arrive in just hours, she is made Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai. She’s clearly meant to be a puppet, but so far she’s doing an excellent job of asserting herself.
• The White Tower is broken: Elaida continues to rule in Tar Valon while most of the Aes Sedai we’re familiar with build power in Salidar.
  • Both sides wish to control Rand. Elaida aims to make Rand a puppet with no agency of his own. Those in Salidar are torn, with some wanting more of an alliance and others wanting the same as Elaida. Neither side trusts Rand at all and both aim to control him as much as they are able, their differences aren’t so much ethical as they are practical.
  • We don’t yet know what Egwene’s approach will be as Amyrlin. She may force a more amicable relationship with Rand, but we don’t know how news of the Asha’man will strike her. She definitely feels as though Rand has become too arrogant, but whether this is a personal opinion or something she’ll carry into her political relationship with him hasn’t come out yet.
  • Gareth Bryne has built a large army for the rebel Aes Sedai. By the end of Lord of Chaos, Egwene has the rebels marching on Tar Valon.
• Galina and Katerine, Aes Sedai following Elaida, are Black Ajah. Right away, in the prologue, they are conspiring with Sevanna, a Wise One of the Shaido Aiel, against Rand.
• Gawyn leads the Younglings for Elaida. Elaida’s Aes Sedai do not like Gawyn and continually consider options to dispose of him. Gawyn blames Rand for rumors of Morgase’s death and vows to kill him for it.
  • Gawyn and Egwene are in love. Egwene got Gawyn to vow not to try to kill Rand, which stays Gawyn’s hand – for now. Gawyn is clearly planning to get out of this eventually, as he still vows to kill Rand.
• Elayne and Nynaeve continue to grow in power and rediscover lost arts, both on their own and by interrogating Moghedien, held by an a’dam. Elayne can create ter’angreal and Nynaeve has successfully Healed both stilling and gentling in Logain, Siuan, and Leane.
  • Egwene raised both Elayne and Nynaeve to full Aes Sedai. Elayne is Green and Nynaeve is Yellow, but the other Aes Sedai don’t fully accept them yet.
  • Egwene rediscovered Traveling.
  • All of these rediscovered talents are being shared with the other Aes Sedai, though not all are capable of working them.
  • Though Siuan and Leane have been Healed, their power is not fully restored, and they are now fairly low-ranking among the Aes Sedai.
• Mat leads the Band of the Red Hand, who serve at Rand’s bidding. They spend much of the book putting pressure on Sammael in Ilian, if only to keep his attention.
• Elayne and Nynaeve learned of a bowl ter’angreal which may allow them to fix the weather. They only know that it’s in Ebou Dar, a very dangerous city.
• Mat’s band is sent to put pressure on Salidar so Rand can retrieve Elayne to rule Andor and Cairhien, to rescue Egwene and Nynaeve if necessary, and to put pressure on Salidar in their dealings with Rand. Rand severely underestimated the strength of Salidar, so Mat’s band is merely maintaining a consistent distance from Salidar as they march towards Tar Valon. Unknown to the band, Egwene is planning to use the band in her plot against Elaida. Mat himself, along with some of his men, are sent with Elayne, Nynaeve, a couple other Aes Sedai, Thom, and Julian to Ebou Dar.
  • This plot does not conclude during Lord of Chaos: the band is still tailing the forces of Salidar while our named characters are still in Ebou Dar.
• The Shaido remain a problem, amassing more forces. The Wise Ones hold that Shaido Wise Ones are still Wise Ones and are welcome among them, though I imagine that this could change after Sevanna’s alliance with Elaida’s Aes Sedai in capturing Rand.
• Mazrim Taim accepted Rand’s amnesty. Rand charged him with starting a school for men who can channel. Taim is very strong in the One Power, perhaps even as strong as Rand himself, and he has many years of experience with it. He’s also a quick study, easily mastering tricks like Traveling.
  • Rand does not like Taim. It’s hard to tell how much of this comes from Lews Therin and how much is from Rand himself. Taim, for his part, seems a bit frustrated with not being in charge, but has thus-far been a faithful servant to Rand.
  • Over the course of Lord of Chaos, Taim amasses hundreds of men and trains them well. Their base is called the Black Tower, they wear a black cloak as uniform, and Rand created badges to mark their ranks: Soldier, Dedicated, and Asha’man (meaning guarding or defender of truth.)
  • Rand does not spend much time with the men. They appear fairly loyal, but they certainly know Taim better than Rand.
• Perrin is drawn to Rand, leaving the Two Rivers with hundreds of soldiers. Faile comes with, which seems standard for Saldaean wives.
• The Atha’an Miere – the Sea Folk – try to meet with Rand throughout Lord of Chaos, but he never finds time to see them.
• The Seanchan are still scouting and preparing. One even runs into Mat, who reminds us that he’ll supposedly marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons, which is the title for the Seanchan Empress (or her daughter, we don’t have much info on Seanchan society yet.)
• Fairly early in the book, Alanna – who is still mourning the loss of her Warder – bonds Rand against his will. She is unable to compel him through the bond, but the act is seen by other Aes Sedai as akin to rape. Merana, in particular, has no real love for Rand, but still has a serious ethical problem with this.
• Min finally meets Rand. Of course, Rand doesn’t pick up that she’s legitimately in love with him: he thinks that she’s just teasing him, but he greatly enjoys her company.
• Rand attempts to play the Aes Sedai factions against one another. Those from Elaida arrive in Cairhien while those from Salidar arrive in Caemlyn.
  • The Aes Sedai from Salidar suffer an attack from Aiel (overeager Siswai’amon or a false-flag from the Shaido?) and feel that they need to press Rand by sending more Aes Sedai than he allowed permission. Rand is, of course, cautious of being near more than three Aes Sedai at once and certainly not thirteen. When a couple of additional Aes Sedai arrive, bringing the total in the city to thirteen, Rand flees to Cairhien.
  • In Cairhien, Rand is tricked by Elaida’s Aes Sedai when they sneak a large group of Aes Sedai into an audience, masquerading as servants. (This move is, frankly, pretty obvious – I can’t imagine that anyone reading didn’t see this coming the first time they brought in servants to carry gold.) They are able to shield Rand and force him into a chest to carry him to the White Tower. They also grabbed Min.
  • During the trip to the Tower, Rand and Min are tortured repeatedly. Rand, in particular, is beaten regularly. He manages to briefly escape, killing two warders, but not breaking the shield on saidin.
  • As Rand has been habitually Traveling without telling anyone, nobody notices that he’s been taken for several days. Once Berelain notices, Perrin leads a large group of Rand’s supporters – six thousand Aiel siswai’aman and Maidens, five hundred Saldaeans, two hundred winged guards, and ninety four Wise Ones to rescue him. Loial and Aram are there as well.
  • Before Perrin’s group catches up, they encounter the Salidar Aes Sedai and the Two Rivers men. The groups merge, both hoping to retrieve Rand from Elaida’s Aes Sedai.
  • At Dumai’s Wells, Perrin’s group finds that an enormous battle between some forty thousand Shaida with hundreds of Wise Ones and the thirty nine Aes Sedai, their Warders, and Gawyn’s Younglings. Rand is still shielded and in the chest.
  • Perrin’s group charges in, hoping to save Rand and escape but expecting death. Perrin calls in hundreds of wolves, eager to save Shadowkiller.
  • As the battle rages, Taim’s Asha’man arive through Gateways, quickly turning the tide. With the Aes Sedai distracted, Rand is able to break free. Our named characters are all present under a dome of air created by the Asha’man. Taim aims to let the battle rage outside while they prepare a Gateway out, but Rand orders a counter attack, mostly to save his forces, but couched as a want to see the Asha’man’s power.
  • The Asha’man absolutely destroy the Shaido. I’ll touch on this more later, but it’s devastating, far beyond anything we’ve seen the Aes Sedai accomplish. The battle is over in moments.
  • The Salidar Aes Sedai begin to approach Rand, hoping to salvage the negotiations. While in the chest, Rand decided that this experience is a lesson: never trust the Aes Sedai. He commands them to kneel to him, and they do.
  • “On a day of fire and blood, a tattered banner waved above Dumai’s Wells, bearing the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai. On a day of fire and blood and the One Power, as prophecy had suggested, the unstained tower, broken, bent knee to the forgotten sign. The first nine Aes Sedai swore fealty to the Dragon Reborn, and the world was changed forever.”
• In the epilogue, Demandred kneels in the Pit of Doom again. Shai’tan seems pleased with the events of the book.

What is Lord of Chaos about?

This one’s right in the title: it’s about chaos.

We could take “chaos” to mean “void” or “the state before creation,” but I’m pretty sure that we should take it to mean “disordered.”

Narrative

The Wheel of Time books always follow multiple storylines, splitting characters into groups, but Lord of Chaos is much harder to follow than what we’ve seen so far. To a degree, this is simply the progression of a multi-book work: we have more characters and places to keep track of. Yet, where The Fires of Heaven felt “big,” Lord of Chaos feels overwhelming. I took twenty one thousand words of notes while reading and I still feel like I may have missed some things.

Just keeping track of who was in Cairhien and who was in Caemlyn was challenging. Traveling really changes things here: rather than getting a gradual journey from place to place so we can catch our bearings along the way, we’re repeatedly just dropped directly into a conversation with several characters we haven’t heard from in a few chapters – characters who are only concerned with their city and want quick answers. I really like how this format forces us, as the readers, to experience a taste of what Rand is going through. We often hear how tired he is; searching backward and forward in my notes in an attempt to keep up with events, it wasn’t difficult to empathize with him.

I think this structure of jumping constantly between different complex political landscapes is an intentional structure that Robert Jordan uses to reinforce the theme of chaos. Again, I’m reading these books very closely, as I’m intentionally preparing to write these lengthy posts – and I’m still definitely missing some things. A more casual, leisurely reading would likely miss even more, regardless of how savvy the reader is. I have to imagine that Jordan intended for readers to start feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the nuanced cultures, characters, and political plots.

A casual reading of Lord of Chaos would need to fall back on just following the main characters and trends while trusting that all the extra stuff to the characters we know. This not only emphasizes the theme of chaos, but also builds up our confidence in our characters. Rand makes a couple of mistakes, but wow, how does he do so many things right? We finally get a little taste of Egwene’s leadership abilities as well. Look, I’ve said a lot of mean things about Egwene, but if she can pull off deposing Elaida and becoming the single Amyrlin Seat for the Aes Sedai despite all of her enemies and the overall chaos of the world as it nears Tarmon Gai’don, that’s pretty goddamn impressive.

Even the cliffhangers felt more discordant than usual. To some degree, cliff-hangers are inescapable in books with multiple protagonists, but I was angry when we switched directly from Rand being packed into a box to Mat, Elayne, and Nynaeve looking for a bowl that they don’t even find this book. The whole bowl ter’angreal plot almost felt dropped, I wondered whether my copy was missing some pages. Bear in mind that this isn’t just a meaningless side-quest: although it’s easy to ignore thus far, fixing the weather is critically important if Rand’s going to have enough food to win Tarmon Gai’don. Leaving this thread untied feels strange for a Wheel of Time book, which generally tie up all of the major plots in the final couple of chapters. Once again, I think this was an intentional decision to reinforce the theme of chaos and the frenetic state of the world as we plummet towards Tarmon Gai’don.

Events

Let’s just list a handful of the crazy things that happened in Lord of Chaos.

• In a single evening, Egwene is publicly flogged for lying to the Wise Ones about being full Aes Sedai, rediscovers stepping into Tel’aran’rhiod in the flesh, rediscovers Traveling, and is elevated to both full Aes Sedai and Amyrlin Seat.
• Nynaeve – who can’t even break her block – discovers how to Heal being severed in both men and women, something that seems to not have been known even in the Age of Legends. This might be the most significant discovery of the Age, and Nynaeve first accomplished it without even intending to – she’s terrified when she realizes that she’s Healed Logain without a group of Aes Sedai to shield him from saidin.
• It’s hot even for summer when it should be winter. This is about as up is down, left is right as you can get.
• Towards the end of the book, Mat suffers a streak of bad luck in dicing that would be uncommon even for someone with only average luck.

The ta’veren always cause some strange luck, but this is something beyond that. This is in addition to all the marriages, strange miracles, and bizarre deaths that continue to occur wherever Rand is.

We can’t see yet how this all benefits Shai’tan, but he certainly seems to desire it. “Let the Lord of Chaos rule” is his command to Demandred. Demandred, who only shows up a bit at the very beginning and ending of the book…

Mazrim Taim

So, at this point in the series, I think there are two possibilities for Mazrim Taim.

Not a bad guy

Rand really doesn’t like Taim, but is this fair? Sure, Taim doesn’t seem particularly happy that some kid is giving him orders, but he really hasn’t done more than grumble a bit. He gets a bit snarky when he realizes that Rand doesn’t know some basic things, like how to keep from sweating and how to test men for the ability to channel, but… so what? He’s not half as insubordinate or childish as any of our female characters, or Mat.

Taim occasionally pushes back on Rand’s ideas, but this is a good thing. Taim has a lot more experience than Rand, it would be foolish not to offer some opinions, particularly on issues like evading the Aes Sedai. If Rand had listened to Taim a bit more, he probably wouldn’t have wound up shielded and shoved in a box. At Dumai’s Wells, Taim saves the day – despite Rand’s orders. Really note that Taim’s rescue was necessary: Perrin’s group really didn’t have much chance of successfully saving Rand.

Yet, despite this, Rand still hates Taim. “Even without Lews Therin, he did not want to be Healed by the man. He thought if Taim ever touched him with the Power, however innocently, he would kill him.”

Throughout Lord of Chaos, it really seems like Rand is jealous and insecure around Taim. Note, by the way, that Rand kind of cheated when comparing power with Taim. Taim filled himself with as much of saidin as he could and Rand did likewise… but Rand has an angreal in his hand that Taim didn’t know about. Having some fear that Taim would try to usurp him is rational, but Rand really just comes off as petty. This is a huge departure for Rand’s character. Until recently, Rand has been pretty modest, and he still at least tries to be modest with most people, though he’s beginning to grow comfortable with his position. Being this insecure around another man who can channel feels kind of strange… for Rand.

For Lews Therin, it’s hard to tell. The impression I’m getting is that Lews Therin was a bit arrogant even before the madness took him. He certainly had enough lofty titles, we have to wonder whether he merely tolerated them – as Rand does – or if he encouraged them. His mad voice in Rand’s head is certainly arrogant and selfish. And bloodthirsty. “Kill him! Kill him now! Kill him!” is Lews Therin’s response to Taim every time he sees him. Rand has to struggle just to keep Lews Therin from seizing saidin and striking at Taim.

But, that’s not all Lews Therin says when Taim is around.

Taim is probably Demandred

Immediately upon seeing Taim for the first time, before Rand even gets a chance to speak, Lews Therin shouts “Sammael and Demandred hated me, whatever honors I gave them. The more honors, the worse the hate, until they sold their souls and went over. Demandred especially. I should have killed him! I should have killed them all! Scorched the earth to kill them all! Scorch the earth!” Lews Therin didn’t really start raving about Demandred until Taim showed up, but now he focuses on Demandred even more than Sammael.

We could take this as Lews Therin simply associating Taim with Demandred. Perhaps Lews Therin’s relationship with Demandred wasn’t all that different from that between Rand and Taim.

Then, why didn’t Bashere recognize Taim?

Bashere took advantage of the silence. “You say you’re Mazrim Taim?” He sounded doubtful, and Rand looked at him in confusion. Was this Taim or not? Only a madman would claim that name if it was not his.

The prisoner’s mouth quirked in what might have been the beginning of a smile, and he rubbed his chin. “I shaved, Bashere.” His voice held more than a hint of mockery. “It is hot this far south, or had you not noticed? Hotter than it should be, even here. Do you want proof of me? Shall I channel for you?” His dark eyes flickered to Rand, then back to Bashere, whose face was growing darker by the minute. “Perhaps not that, not now. I remember you. I had you beat at Irinjavar, until those visions appeared in the sky.

Perhaps this doesn’t mean anything. In real life, this wouldn’t be odd at all – but this is a book. That this scene is included definitely feels like a clue.

Thinking of Lord of Chaos as a novel, we should also consider that Demandred features heavily in the prologue and epilogue, but doesn’t do much throughout the rest of the book. Now, this isn’t entirely uncommon for The Wheel of Time. Niall, for example, has also appeared around the edges without making any major appearance in previous books.

Another clue, which is very subtle but significant nonetheless, is the phrase “as close to a smile as ____ had ever seen from him.” This shows up multiple times in Lord of Chaos. In the prologue, after Demandred relays the command “Let the Lord of Chaos rule,” we have: “The corners of his mouth twitched, as close to a smile as Mesaana had ever seen from him.” At Dumai’s Wells, after Rand commands the Aes Sedai to kneel: “Taim appeared as close to a smile as Rand had ever seen him.'”

This doesn’t really prove anything, plenty of people don’t smile very often… but the wording here is exactly the same, and that seems significant.

We should also consider Taim’s power. We don’t have a good basis for how strong men are in the One Power, but Taim appears to be about as strong as Rand, maybe even stronger (when Rand isn’t holding an angreal.) Taim is also a suspiciously quick study, figuring out Traveling without any difficulty at all. Granted, most of our protagonists are similarly gifted, so this isn’t unprecedented, but consider that Rand and Taim specifically discuss the possibility that one of the Forsaken could try to infiltrate the Asha’man. Taim is watching out for any students who learn a bit too quickly… but nobody is watching Taim for the same.

If this is the case – if Taim is Demandred in disguise – then we need to consider that there was definitely a Mazrim Taim before any of the Forsaken broke free. So, most likely, the real Taim is being held by Demandred somewhere so Demandred can question him on ways to make the disguise more convincing. It’s also possible that there’s some magic going on here, with Taim somehow possessed or something. At this point, we can only really guess.

Either way

What Taim has accomplished – finding and training the Asha’man – is a significant development. I’ll get to Dumai’s Wells in a bit, but this army is extremely powerful. It seems to me that they could probably conquer the Aes Sedai without many losses. If they can’t now, they will be able to before long: their numbers are growing rapidly. Taim’s boast that he can match the White Tower in less than a year seemed reckless at first, but now it almost seems conservative.

Note, too, that Rand has not been doing a good job of ensuring that the Black Tower is bound to him. He hardly visits at all and knows only a handful of the men. Are they more loyal to Rand than they are to Taim? At Dumai’s Wells, they certainly don’t listen to Rand’s commands. When Rand shouts for them to stop, they only do so when Taim gives the order. Perhaps this is just good discipline, but we’ve already seen a couple of men think that they could challenge Rand. Then, of course, there’s the risk of madness. We have enough data now to say that the time it takes for a man to succumb to madness varies greatly. It is not safe to assume that the men will be able to hold out for as long as Rand.

Taim and the Asha’man are extremely powerful tools in Rand’s arsenal. With them, he may be able to set his current problems in order quickly and then turn his attention to more distant threats, like the Seanchan, and finally Shai’tan himself. But, it seems just as likely to me that Taim and the Asha’man will become one of Rand’s greatest concerns.

If Taim is Demandred, or even just working for him, how long until he lets the Asha’man know that Shai’tan has a cure for the madness? How many of the men would willingly submit to Shai’tan to avoid death or gentling, particularly after they’ve gotten a taste of the One Power. If Taim abandons the disguise and begins training the men without discretion, what lost talents could he impart to them that we haven’t even seen yet? This could be really bad.

Egwene

So, I’ve said a lot of mean things about Egwene. She’s stupid, childish, and arrogant.

Thus far, I’ve seen her as something of a foil for Lanfear, actually. Egwene is easily the most power hungry character we have. Her ambition is sometimes worded as though she merely wants knowledge, but the knowledge that she wants is knowledge in the One Power. She’s not a Brown, interested in knowledge for its own sake: she wants greater abilities. She wants Traveling and Balefire. She wanted to be Amyrlin without ever taking the oaths long before we knew that was actually feasible.

I also do not think it’s valid to say that any of Egwene’s hunger for power is in response to her time with the Seanchan. She wanted more power before that. Way back in Eye of the World, she was already recklessly pushing boundaries on what Moiraine told her was safe.

Egwene really just likes power and feels entitled to getting it.

She’s also kind of stupid.

I’ve talked about this before, so I don’t want to waste too much time on it here, but seriously, she just keeps doing stupid things. The scene in Lord of Chaos where she tries to board the Atha’an Miere ship is really telling. She tries to board the ship and is kicked off. It wasn’t an attack, they just denied her passage when they realized that she was an Aes Sedai trying to sneak aboard. So, what does she do in response? She uses Air to throw the women on the ship overboard. Not only is this a huge overreaction… but she also giddily awaits the other women’s panic upon being thrown into the water. Egwene thought that the Sea Folk would react the same as she when thrown into water.

Egwene has some virtuous moments, but I want to clarify something about those as well. Egwene has a sense of honor that the Aiel respect. She willingly accepts punishment to meet her toh, which is a pretty powerful scene. This is virtuous. But, to be entirely clear, this is still an example of Egwene’s arrogance. She’s willing to accept punishment and follow rules when it’s her choice to do so. If anyone else tries to enforce any sort of restriction on her – even if it’s just some rest to recover from an injury – she’s worse than Mat when it comes to obeying. At least when Mat disobeys, he has some understanding that he’s doing something reckless or wrong, and he does occasionally actually listen. Egwene simply believes that she’s above any rules or restrictions that she doesn’t personally agree with… despite her just shocking stupidity.

That all said… she’s kind of nailing it when it comes to being Amyrlin.

Now, she hasn’t been Amyrlin for long, so there’s still plenty of time to make mistakes, but she’s really doing a fantastic job so far. Even her flaws are, frankly, not really flaws when it comes to the Aes Sedai. If anything, Nynaeve and Elayne have been a bit too meek in their relation to the Aes Sedai. The Aes Sedai are a bunch of kids at recess, so Egwene’s playground bully methodology is kind of perfect. I would be more impressed if she was doing this intentionally, rather than just continuing to act as she always does regardless of circumstance, but still, this is some good growth for Egwene. Maybe we’ll see some more good character growth in the books to come.

Update: A few people have mentioned that they think I’m being too hard on Egwene, so I want to clarify a couple of things.

First, Egwene is probably the most realistic of our young characters. A real teenager would, if anything, be far worse. I would have been far worse at that age. Hell, I might be as arrogant as Egwene if I suddenly found similar powers now. But, when she’s set in a context where most of the other characters are far more humble and fearful of their new abilities, she really stands out as the only one who embraces them without reservation.

Second, we specifically see that Rand, Perrin, Mat, and Nynaeve all respond with disgust when given respect they feel they don’t deserve. Rand, Perrin, and Mat all hate being treated as lords. Rand and Perrin have begrudgingly come to accept it as a practical concession, but they feel that it’s wrong and they’d stop it if they could. Nynaeve, too, doesn’t feel good about being treated as better than other people for being Aes Sedai. She thinks the Aes Sedai aren’t as great as they think they are.

Egwene, on the other hand, has no problem being treated special. She doesn’t necessarily revel in it, at least not always, but she never has that realization that she was born with a ridiculous amount of privilege. Yeah, she worked hard, but many of her peers work hard.

Until she becomes Amyrlin.

Here, finally, we have a scene where Egwene is given something extraordinary and her first reaction isn’t ‘I deserve this’ or ‘about time,’ but ‘this must be a joke’ or ‘this must be a dream.’

This scene is the moment where Egwene starts to improve her key character flaw. Moreover, she appears to be doing more than simply improving, but actively sublimating it. She recognizes the absurdity of being handed such a lofty title, but she doesn’t back down from it at all. Unlike Rand, Perrin, and Mat, she doesn’t have an awkward phase of asking everyone not to call her ‘my lord’ – she jumps immediately to just filling the position. Rand took multiple books to get to this point, where he can still feel like he’s a farmer at heart while also performing the correct ceremonial duties. Perrin and Mat still aren’t there – Mat simply refuses and Perrin needs Faile to cover for him.

This is a real strength that Egwene shows here. She’s finally learned to question whether she’s actually earned the privilege she lucked into, but she’s also able to hold on to the pragmatic need to use what tools are available to her, as well as the confidence to boldly take the title and make it her own.

Elayne

With Egwene seeing some actual character growth, the prize for most insufferable character is finally passed to a new contender: Elayne. I’d say there’s a prize, but I’m sure she’d just be angry that it’s not big enough, and that it’s offensive to “give” her a prize rather than allowing her to take it. Then again, if there isn’t a prize, I’m sure that’ll piss her off too. しょうがないね

At this point, we’ve seen at least some character growth for both Egwene and Nynaeve. It’s been slow all round, but it’s definitely there. All three have seen some major accomplishments. Egwene is Amyrlin, Nynaeve Healed severing, and Elayne has successfully created ter’angreal. In terms of character growth, Egwene is growing a sense of responsibility and learning to be a leader while Nynaeve is learning to get a hold on her temper and engaging in some self-reflection.

Elayne is… still just really entitled. She’s absolutely certain that she’s going to bond Rand as a Warder. Frankly, Rand would probably be fine with this – it would certainly make locating her easier – but it’s also clear that she simply doesn’t care what Rand’s stance is here. Elayne also notes that she plans to enforce some stronger control over Rand than she did with Birgitte, such as a requirement for him to answer her questions. Even for a princess this seems a bit spoiled. Does she really not realize that Rand has more power than her? Any concessions he makes will be purely out of love, and she’s more than happy to abuse this as much as she can.

When hearing that Rand plans to put her on both the Sun and Lion thrones, she’s just angry that a man is going to give her the throne. Let’s analyze this for a moment. Granted, the Lion throne is always held by a Queen, so having a man take it and then pass it on does go against custom… but, I mean, how else is she going to claim it? Morgase, for all her faults, at least understands that Andor isn’t going to just wait for her to return: there’s always been a line of people waiting for a power vacuum to fill. Elayne should understand this as well… but she just doesn’t. If she wants to claim the throne, then she needs to, you know, actually do that, before someone else claims it. The only reason the throne is still hers to take is because Rand has been continually fighting to keep everyone else off it.

Hopefully, this just means that Elayne’s character growth is coming soon.

Mat and Olver

Most of Mat’s scenes in Lord of Chaos are just marching his band around at Rand’s order. Frankly, the fact that Mat continues to follow Rand’s orders – despite his grumbling – is a good example of Mat’s character growth. I can’t imagine him ever fully growing out of being a rapscallion, but he’s learned to accept that he’s a ta’veren and Rand needs his help. The Mat who took a dagger from Shadar Logoth was childish, assuming that consequences wouldn’t be any worse than a switching. The Mat who was continually trying to flee Rand’s pull understood the consequences and was hoping that he, at least, could escape. Now, he’s in it. He’s not happy about it, continually grumbling about being a soldier, but he’s showing up.

His relationship with Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne is also very interesting. He’s definitely offended at how they treat him… which is entirely fair. Yet, he’s responding pretty well, all considering. Sure, he’ll mope a bit and make the occasional scene, but he’s not going to abandon them.

“I think he made a promise,” Egwene said simply, and Nynaeve nodded. Slowly, reluctantly, but she nodded. Elayne looked lost, of course; she did not know him. “Elayne, Mat does exactly as he pleases; he always has.”

“No matter how many turnips he had to peel for it,” Nynaeve muttered, “or how often he was switched.”

“Yes, that is Mat,” Egwene sighed. He had been the most irresponsible boy in Emond’s Field, maybe in the Two Rivers. “But if he gives his word, he keeps it. And I think he promised Rand to see you back in Caemlyn, Elayne. You notice he retreated to asking me”—in a way he had—“but you he never changed a hair on. I think he’ll try to stay as close to you as your belt pouch. But we won’t let him even see you unless he does as we want.” She paused. “Elayne, if you want to go with him, you can. To Rand, I mean. As soon as we squeeze all of the good out of Mat and his Band.”

Granted, this isn’t so much character growth as a virtue that Mat has always had: he’s always had a particular sense of honor. The growth I’m seeing here is that he made the promise in the first place.

Then there’s Mat’s attitude towards the women. Here, he goes beyond the promise he made, trying to support Egwene when he sees that she needs it.

They were all talking among themselves, ignoring the woman they had named Amyrlin. Egwene might as well have been alone; she looked alone. Knowing her, she was trying very hard to be what they had named her, and they let her walk alone, with everybody watching.

‘To the Pit of Doom with them if they think they can treat a Two Rivers woman that way,’ he thought grimly.

Striding to meet Egwene, he swept off his hat and bowed, making the best leg he knew how, and he could flourish with the best when he had to. “Good morning, Mother, and the Light shine on you,” he said, loud enough to be heard in the village. Kneeling, he seized her right hand and kissed her Great Serpent ring. A quick glare and a grimace directed at Talmanes and the others, and hidden by Egwene from those behind her, had them all scrambling to kneel and call out, “The Light illumine you, Mother,” or some variation. Even Thom and Juilin.

Egwene looked startled at first, though she hid it quickly. Then she smiled, and said softly, “Thank you, Mat.”

This comes after days of being treated very poorly by Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve. Mat has every reason to storm off or make a big scene, and perhaps he would have a few books ago. Now, he sees that a friend is in trouble and naturally steps in to help, even if it’s frustrating.

The way Elayne keeps undercutting his authority is frustrating to read, but Mat’s response also shows some great growth. I’m actually not sure whether Elayne fully understands what she’s doing here. If her goal is to weaken Mat’s authority and drive a wedge between him and his band, then she’s doing a good job. If she plans on doing this sort of thing as a Queen, then hopefully her generals will inform her of how damaging this is. In either case, Mat does an almost inhumanly good job of managing his temper. Pretty much any other Emond’s Fielder would have stubbornly insisted that Elayne’s advice is all bad, but Mat begrudgingly admits that she’s right – though he’s still frustrated that she’s often telling him to do things that he was about to do anyways. When, for example, she makes a comment that getting drunk around Olver is a bad influence, Mat actually listens.

Speaking of Olver, I really hope that he doesn’t turn out to be a Forsaken in disguise or a Darkfriend. I’m continually reminded of Hellmaster Fibrizo from Slayers Next.

It’s really just very cute seeing Mat’s relationship with Olver. It seems that, so far, Mat really has no idea that Olver is basically just a younger version of himself.

“Shaking his head, Mat started up the stairs. He had to speak to the boy. He could not just grin like that at every woman he saw. And telling a woman she had beautiful eyes! At his age! Mat did not know where Olver got it.”

So, not only is Mat a bloody hero, but he’s also a bloody good caretaker of lost children. He can grumble all he wants, but Mat just can’t help but try to be a good guy at every turn. I’m interested to see where this goes.

Lan

There’s not much to say about Lan yet, but I should note that he’s reappeared, having finally reached Nisao and Myrelle. It seems that he had a pretty rough trip getting there. Was there really no better way for Moiraine to ensure that he wouldn’t just go off to die in the Blight? Perhaps not, but in any case, it seems that he’s not doing alright. As he approaches, we get the following scene.

Myrelle was glad the moon was down already. It hid her grimace. She could handle the Healing herself, but Nisao had been studying how to deal with sicknesses of the mind, things the Power could not touch. Myrelle was not sure this counted as a sickness, but she would try whatever tool might work. Nisao could say what she would; Myrelle knew she would cut off her own hand rather than pass up this chance to further her studies.
She could feel him out there in the night, coming closer. They were well away from the tents, well beyond the soldiers, with only scattered trees round them. She had felt him from the moment his bond passed to her, the crime Nisao fretted over. A Warder’s bond passed from one Aes Sedai to another without his consent. Nisao was right in one point; they would have to keep this secret as long as they could. Myrelle could feel his wounds, some almost healed, some almost fresh. Some badly infected. He would not have gone aside to seek battle. He had to come to her, as surely as a boulder tipped down a mountain had to roll on to the bottom. He would not have moved one foot to stand aside from battle either. She had felt his journey in distance and blood; his blood. Across Cairhien and Andor, Murandy and now Altara, through lands infested with rebels and rogues, bandits and Dragonsworn, focused on her like an arrow speeding to the target, carving his way through any armed man who stood in his path. Even he could not do that unharmed. She toted up his injuries in her mind, and wondered that he was still alive.

Fortunately for the two Aes Sedai, Nynaeve is very talented with Healing. I wonder if they’ll get their reunion in the next book.

Herid Fel

Rand’s school – not the Black Tower, the one in Cairhien – has been a pretty minor side-plot so far. It’s mostly just served to humanize Rand, demonstrating that, despite his mission, he still wants to build something good and leave something behind. I loved the science fair scene, particularly Rand’s interest in the farming equipment. Rand may never be a farmer again, but it’s heartwarming to see that he still cares about the lives of common people.

Herid Fel is kind of a mystery. On the surface, he’s just a forgetful scholar, perhaps even a bit senile. But, I get the impression that some of his ramblings might be early foreshadowing for some major events.

Snatching his pipe out, Herid drew a circle in the air with the stem. “The Wheel of Time. Ages come and go and come again as the Wheel turns. All the catechism.” Suddenly he stabbed a point on that imaginary wheel. “Here the Dark One’s prison is whole. Here, they drilled a hole in it, and sealed it up again.” He moved the bit of the pipe along the arc he had drawn. “Here we are. The seal’s weakening. But that doesn’t matter, of course.” The pipestem completed the circle. “When the Wheel turns back to here, back to where they drilled the hole in the first place, the Dark One’s prison has to be whole again.”

“Why? Maybe the next time they’ll drill through the patch. Maybe that’s how they could do it the last time—drill into what the Creator made, I mean—maybe they drilled the Bore through a patch and we just don’t know.”

Herid shook his head. For a moment he stared at his pipe, once more realizing it was unlit, and Rand thought he might have to recall him again, but instead Herid blinked and went on. “Someone had to make it sometime. For the first time, that is. Unless you think the Creator made the Dark One’s prison with a hole and patch to begin.” His eyebrows waggled at the suggestion. “No, it was whole in the beginning, and I think it will be whole again when the Third Age comes once more. Hmmm. I wonder if they called it the Third Age?” He hastily dipped a pen and scribbled a note in the margins of an open book. “Umph. No matter now. I’m not saying the Dragon Reborn will be the one to make it whole, not in this Age necessarily anyway, but it must be so before the Third Age comes again, and enough time passed since it was made whole—an Age, at least—that no one remembers the Dark One or his prison. No one remembers. Um. I wonder. . . .” He peered at his notes and scratched his head, then seemed startled to find he used the hand holding the pen. There was a smudge of ink in his hair. “Any Age where seals weaken must remember the Dark One eventually, because they will have to face him and wall him up again.” Sticking his pipe back between his teeth, he tried to make another note without dipping the pen.

Just in case anyone skimmed this section, note that somebody thinks highly enough of Herid to have him murdered by a gholam during the epilogue.

Note that this concept of time, which we’ve talked about before, is clearly based on Hindu mythology. Frankly, I’d rather just direct you to a Wikipedia link than try to explain it myself, as I really only have a passing familiarity. If the ordering of the ages is the same, then the third age would be Dvapara Yuga, which would imply that the next age will be the Kali Yuga, which is the Yuga we’re in now in real life.

My guess is that Robert Jordan only used the broad concept as inspiration, so things won’t line up exactly. I mean, the duration alone can’t possibly align exactly, as Yuga timescales are just massive (we’re talking hundreds of thousands of years for each) whereas ages in The Wheel of Time appear to be much shorter, with the current age only being a few thousand years old.

Perrin and Faile

We get to see Perrin again! We only saw some brief glimpses of how the Two Rivers are changing in the last book, so it’s good to see some more of Perrin and Faile.

It might not have meant much to the overall story, but I really liked the stuff with Faile’s parents. It definitely reminded me of a couple similar meetings in my youth. Of course, I’ve never dated a Saldaean, so it wasn’t exactly the same, but the overall vibe was relatable.

I was kind of hoping that we were done with Perrin/Faile drama, so that was a disappointment. It’s not all bad, their drama is at least slightly more tolerable than anything involving Rand, but I really wouldn’t mind having just a couple of mature, reasonable characters.

It seems that Perrin has a fairly violent temper. We know that Perrin tries to keep a handle on his anger, for fear of hurting anyone weaker than him, but until now this has always seemed very boyish. Now, we have lines like: “[Perrin] was a gentle man, slow to anger, but just to be safe [Faile] had barricaded herself in their bedroom until he cooled down.” We also see him crush a wine cup in his hand while talking to Davram.

I’ve been wondering for a while whether we’d see some more Ulfheðnar behavior from Perrin, so maybe his temper is part of his transformation. On the other hand, Perrin actually vomits upon seeing the work of the Asha’man, so maybe I’m reading too much into this. Overall, Perrin still seems a relatively gentle person.

One thing I really liked about Faile is the scene we get of her holding court. This aspect of rule – hearing the problems of the people and serving as judge – is often cut from fantasy novels, but it’s a crucial part of the job. It wasn’t a critical scene, but I really like these little bits of realistic world building that Jordan works in.

Healing

We already talked about Nynaeve, but let’s focus specifically on her discovery of the method to Heal severing.

On its face, this is a miraculous discovery. Unless I missed something, I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t even known in the Age of Legends, making this potentially the greatest discovery of the age. The direct impact of this – restoring Siuan, Leane, and Logain – is a big deal. The implications of this are also significant. From now on, being severed isn’t final. Even Rand could be gentled without catastrophic consequence. I actually thought this is what we were building to with his capture.

Let’s also consider some more speculative possibilities from this.

That Healing severing in men and women is almost the same seems significant. That it’s similar at all wasn’t inevitable: how men and women relate to the One Power is fundamentally different. That Nynaeve could entirely restore Logain but not Siuan or Leane is also interesting (assuming that Logain is, in fact, fully restored, which seems most likely given that he’s still capable of fighting off multiple women at once.) I get the impression that this hints at some fundamental traits of the One Power.

Clearing her throat, she wove filaments of saidar into him, Air and Water, Fire and Earth, Spirit. All the elements of Healing, but used now to probe. It would have helped to lay her hands on him, but she could not bring herself to do that. Bad enough to touch him with the Power. He was healthy as a bull and almost as strong, nothing wrong with him in the slightest—except for the hole.

It was not really a hole, more a feeling that what seemed continuous was not, that what seemed smooth and straight was really skirting around an absence. She knew that sensation well, from the early days, back when she thought she might really learn something. It still made her skin crawl.

He looked up at her intently. She did not remember moving closer. His face was fixed in a mask of brazen contempt; she might not be Aes Sedai, but she was the next thing to it.

“How can you do all of that at once?” Elayne asked. “I could not keep track of half of it.”

“Hush,” Nynaeve murmured. Hiding the effort required, she took Logain’s head in her hands roughly. Yes. It was better with physical contact, the impressions sharper.

She directed the full flow of saidar into where the hole should have been—and was almost surprised to find an emptiness. Of course, she still did not expect to learn anything. Men were as different from women in the Power as they were in flesh, maybe more so. She might as well study a rock to find out about fish. It was hard to keep her thoughts on what she was doing, knowing she was only going through motions, killing time as it were….

That emptiness, so small she could pass right over it, was vast once she slipped the flows inside, immense enough to swallow them all…. Vast emptiness; nothingness. What about what she had found in Siuan and Leane, the feel of something cut? She was sure it was real, however faint. Men and women might be different, but maybe. . . . There it was. Something cut. Just an impression, but the same as in Siuan and Leane. Something about that cut. . . . If it was bridged with Fire and Spirit, so. . . .

Okay, so, maybe this is a stretch, but compare the wording here with Min’s vision of Rand:

One of those images she had seen every time she saw him. Countless thousands of sparkling lights, like stars or fireflies, rushed into a great blackness, trying to fill it up, rushed in and were swallowed. There seemed to be more lights than she had ever seen before, but the darkness swallowed them at a greater rate, too. And there was something else, something new, an aura of yellow and brown and purple that made her stomach clench.

Maybe this is completely unrelated, but that sense of “great blackness” “immense enough to swallow them all” seems very similar.

We can only speculate at this point, but maybe Nynaeve’s discovery here will be important to patching the bore or even restoring saidin. Rand’s mission is to simply win Tarmon Gai’don, but his wish is to cleanse saidin. We’ve also heard that Shai’tan’s prison was made by the Creator at the moment of creation and humans cannot interfere. Well, Nynaeve believes that anything but death can be Healed.

Dumai’s Wells

This comes of trusting Aes Sedai.

I’m not participating in any online discussions about The Wheel of Time, as I’m trying to avoid spoilers – both for myself and to ensure that my speculation in posts here is truly safe to read for anyone reading along with me. But, I have to imagine that this chapter is a fan favorite. I mean, it should be terrible. Everyone but Taim is horrified. But, it’s the greatest display of Power we’ve seen since Rand destroyed the trolloc armies at the end of the first book.

Even before the Asha’man get involved, the battle was pretty big. Not as big as against the Shaido at Cairhein, but still massive. The various forces gathered by Perrin entered the ongoing battle without much hope of getting back out alive.

Eight hundred paces. Seven hundred. The Two Rivers men dismounted, taking bows in hand. Six hundred. Five. Four.
Dobraine drew his sword, raised it high. “The Lord Dragon, Taborwin and victory!” he shouted, and the shout came from five hundred throats as lances snapped down.
Perrin had just time to seize hold of Dobraine’s stirrup before the Cairhienin were thundering forward. Loial’s long legs matched the horses pace for pace. Loping along, letting the horse pull him in long leaping strides, Perrin sent his mind out. ‘Come.’

Ground covered with brown grass, seemingly empty, suddenly gave birth to a thousand wolves, lean brown plains wolves, and some of their darker, heavier forest cousins, running low to hurl themselves into the backs of the Shaido with snapping jaws just as the first long Two Rivers shafts rained out of the sky beyond them. A second flight already arched high. New lightnings fell with the arrows, new fires bloomed. Veiled Shaido turning to fight wolves had only moments to realize they were not the only threat before a solid spear of Aiel stabbed into them alongside a hammer of Cairhienin lancers.

Snatching his axe free, Perrin hacked down a Shaido in his way and leaped over the man as he fell. They had to reach Rand; everything rested on that. Beside him Loial’s great axe rose and fell and swung, carving a path. Aram seemed to dance with his sword, laughing as he cut down everyone in his way. There was no time to think of anyone else. Perrin worked his axe methodically; he was hewing wood, not flesh; he tried not to see the blood that spurted, even when crimson sprayed his face. He had to reach Rand. He was slashing a path through brambles.

All he focused on was the man, in front of him—he thought of them as men even when height said it might be a Maiden; he was not sure he could swing that red-dripping half-moon blade if he let himself think it was a woman he swung at—he focused, but other things drifted across his vision as he cut his way forward. A silvery lightning strike hurled cadin’sor-clad figures into the air, some wearing the scarlet headband, some not. Another bolt threw Dobraine from his horse; the Cairhienin labored to his feet, laying about him with his sword. Fire enveloped a knot of Cairhienin and Aiel, men and horses turned to screaming torches, those who could still scream.

These things passed before his eyes, but he did not let himself see them. There were only the men before him, the brambles, to be cleared by his axe and Loial’s, and Aram’s sword. Then he saw something that pierced his concentration. A rearing horse, a toppling rider being pulled from his saddle as Aiel spears stabbed him. A rider in a red breastplate. And there was another of the Winged Guards, and a clump of them, thrusting their lances, with Nurelle’s plume waving above his helmet. A moment later he saw Kiruna, face serenely unconcerned, striding like a queen of battles along a path carved for her by three Warders and the fires that leaped from her own hands. And there was Bera, and farther over, Faeldrin and Masuri and. . . . What under the Light were they all doing here? What were any of them doing? They were supposed to be back with the Wise Ones!

From somewhere ahead came a hollow boom, like a thunderclap cutting through the din of screams and shouts. A moment later, a slash of light appeared not twenty paces from him, slicing through several men and a horse like a huge razor as it widened into a gateway. A black-coated man with a sword jumped out of it, and went down with a Shaido spear through his middle, but a moment later eight or nine more sprang through as the gateway vanished, forming a circle around the fallen man with their swords. With more than swords. Some of the Shaido who rushed at them fell to a blade, but more simply burst into flame. Heads exploded like melons dropped onto stone from a height. Maybe a hundred paces beyond them, Perrin thought he saw another circle of men in black coats, surrounded by fire and death, but he had no time to wonder. Shaido were closing around him, too.

Setting himself back-to-back with Loial and Aram, he slashed and hacked desperately. There was no going forward now. It was all he could do to remain standing where he was. Blood pounded in his ears, and he could hear himself gasping for breath. He could hear Loial, too, panting like a huge bellows. Perrin knocked aside a stabbing spear with his axe, slashed at another Aiel with the spike on the backswing, caught a spearhead with his hand, unmindful of the bloody gash it made, split a black-veiled face. He did not think they were going to last much longer. Every part of him centered on staying alive for one heartbeat more. Almost every part. One corner of his mind held an image of Faile, and the sad thought that he would not be able to apologize for not coming back to her.

This description of the chaos of battle is just fantastic. This, alone, would’ve been chilling, but it’s woven alongside Rand’s struggle to break free without losing himself to Lews Therin. “Free, Lews Therin breathed, and it was an echo of Rand’s thought. Free. Or maybe the other way around.” Note, by the way, that it’s during his time in captivity that Rand finally has a brief dialog with Lews Therin.

Even before the battle starts, Rand is tortured for days. Don’t miss, either, that Rand was able to kill a Warder with his bare hands and then another with the first’s sword, all while shielded. We haven’t had much chance to see how this experience might have changed Rand, but we do see how he treats the Aes Sedai in the aftermath and how he reacts to the carnage brought by the Asha’man.

“No!” Not for the Two Rivers folk. He could not appear to worry over them any more than over the Wise Ones. Truth to tell, he had to seem to worry less. Amys was out there? The Wise Ones never took part in battle; they walked untouched through battles and blood feuds. They had ripped apart custom if not law to come for him. He would as soon let Perrin go back into that maelstrom as abandon them. But it could not be for the Wise Ones or the Two Rivers folk. “Sevanna wants my head, Taim. Apparently she thought she could take it today.” The emotionless quality the Void gave to his voice, was appropriate. It did seem to worry Min, though; she was stroking his back as though to calm him. “I mean to let her know her mistake. I told you to make weapons, Taim. Show me just how deadly they are. Disperse the Shaido. Break them.”

“As you command.” If Taim had been stiff before, he was stone now.

“Put my standard up where they can see it,” Rand commanded. At least that would tell everyone outside who held the camp. Maybe the Wise Ones and Two Rivers folk would pull back when they saw that.

Loial’s ears wriggled uneasily, and Perrin grabbed Rand’s arm as Taim walked away. “I saw what they do, Rand. It’s. . . .” With his bloody face and bloody axe, he still sounded disgusted.

“What would you have me do?” Rand demanded. “What else can I do?”

Perrins’s hand fell away, and he sighed. “I do not know. I do not have to like it, though.”

“Grady, raise the Banner of Light!” Taim called, and the Power made his voice boom. On flows of Air, Jur Grady lifted the crimson banner out of a surprised Dobraine’s hand and raised it all the way through the hole in the top of the dome. Fire burst around it and lightning flashed as brilliant red lifted amid the smoke billowing up from the burning wagons. Rand recognized a number of the men in black coats, but he knew only a few names aside from Jur’s. Damer and Fedwin and Eben, Jahar and Torval; of those, only Torval wore the Dragon on his collar.

“Asha’man, form line of battle!” Taim boomed.

Black-coated men rushed to place themselves between the barrier and everyone else, all of them except Jur and those watching Aes Sedai. Except for Nesune, who peered intently at everything, the Tower lot had sunk listlessly to their knees, not even looking at the men who had them shielded, and even Nesune still looked on the point of sicking up. The Salidar group stared coldly at the Asha’man guarding them for the most part, though now and then they turned those icy eyes on Rand. Alanna stared only at Rand. His skin was tingled faintly, he realized; for him to feel it at that distance, all nine must be embracing saidar. He hoped they had enough sense not to channel; the stony men facing them held saidin to bursting, and they looked as tense as the Warders fingering their swords.

“Asha’man, raise the barricade two spans!” At Taim’s command, the edges of the dome rose all around. Surprised Shaido who had been pushing at what they could not see stumbled forward. They recovered instantly, a black-veiled mass surging forward, but they had time for only a stride before Taim’s next shout. “Asha’man, kill!”

The front rank of the Shaido exploded. There was no other way to put it. Cadin’sor-clad shapes burst apart in sprays of blood and flesh. Flows of saidin reached through that thick mist, darting from figure to figure in the blink of an eye, and the next row of Shaido died, then the next, and the next, as though they were running into an enormous meat grinder. Staring at the slaughter, Rand swallowed. Perrin bent over to empty his stomach, and Rand understood fully. Another rank died. Nandera put a hand over her eyes, and Sulin turned her back. The bloody ruins of human beings began to make a wall.

No one could stand up to that. Between one blast of death and the next, the Shaido in front were suddenly struggling the other way, forcing themselves back into the mass fighting to get forward. The milling tangle itself began to explode, and then all of them were falling back. No, running. The rain of fire and lightning against the dome faltered.

“Asha’man,” Taim’s voice rang out, “rolling ring of Earth and Fire!”

Beneath the feet of the Shaido nearest the wagons the ground suddenly erupted in fountains of flame and dirt, hurling men in every direction. While bodies still hung in the air, more gouts of flame roared from the ground, and more, in an expanding ring all the way around the wagons, pursuing the Shaido for fifty paces, a hundred, two hundred. There was nothing but panic and death out there now. Spears and bucklers were cast aside. The dome above stood clear except for the smoke rising from the burning wagons.

“Stop!” The roar of explosions swallowed Rand’s shout as well as it did men’s screams. He wove the flows Taim had used. “Stop it, Taim!” His voice crashed like thunder over everything.

One more ring of eruptions, and Taim called, “Asha’man, rest!”

For a moment a deafening silence seemed to fill the air. Rand’s ears rang. Then he could hear screams and moans. Wounded heaved among the piles of dead. And beyond them the Shaido ran, leaving behind scattered clusters of siswai’aman and Maidens with red armcloths, Cairhienin and Mayeners, some still on their horses. Almost hesitantly those began to move toward the wagons, some of the Aiel lowering their veils. With Power enhancing his eyes, he could make out Rhuarc, limping, one arm dangling, but on his feet. And well beyond him, a large group of women in dark bulky skirts and pale blouses, with an escort of men in Two Rivers coats carrying longbows. They were too far for him to make out faces, but from the way the Two Rivers men at least were staring at the fleeing Shaido, they were as stunned as anyone else.

A great sense of relief welled up inside Rand, though not enough to still the distant churning in his stomach. Min had her face pressed against his shirt; she was weeping. He smoothed her hair. “Asha’man”—he had never been more glad of the Void draining emotion from his voice—“you have done well. I congratulate you, Taim.” He turned away so he would not have to see the carnage anymore, hardly hearing the cheers of “Lord Dragon!” and “Asha’man!” that thundered from the black-coated men.

When he turned, he found Aes Sedai. Merana was all the way at the back, but Alanna stood almost face-to-face with him beside two Aes Sedai he did not recognize.

“You have done well,” the square-faced one of the pair said. A farmer, with an ageless face and eyes just holding on to serenity, ignoring the Asha’man around her. Obviously ignoring them. “I am Bera Harkin, and this is Kiruna Nachiman. We came to rescue you—with Alanna’s aid”—that was an obvious addition, at Alanna’s sudden frown—“though it seems you had small need of us. Still, intentions do count, and—”

“Your place is with them,” Rand said, pointing to the Aes Sedai shielded and under guard. Twenty-three, he saw, and Galina not among them. The buzzing of Lews Therin swelled, but he refused to listen. Now was no time for insane rages.

Kiruna drew herself up proudly. Whatever she was, she was certainly no farmer. “You forget who we are. They may have mistreated you, but we—”

“I forget nothing, Aes Sedai,” Rand said coldly. “I said six could come, but I count nine. I said you would be on an equal footing with the Tower emissaries, and for bringing nine, you will be. They are on their knees, Aes Sedai. Kneel!”

Coldly serene faces stared back at him. He felt Asha’man readying shields of Spirit. Defiance grew on Kiruna’s face, on Bera’s, on others. Two dozen black-coated men made a ring around Rand and the Aes Sedai.

Taim appeared as close to a smile as Rand had ever seen him. “Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon,” he said softly, “or you will be knelt.”

I hate including quotes that long, but this section is pretty important – not just because it’s cool, but because of Rand’s reactions.

To the people around him, he comes off as very cold, but we can see into his thoughts a bit. He is disgusted by this. He wants to protect his people, but he cannot let anyone know that the Two Rivers can be used to manipulate him. After giving the order, he quickly demands an end to it. There’s no madness or cruelty in Rand here: he was only thinking to protect his people and he’s quickly disgusted even by the devastation to his enemies.

His order, by the way, isn’t obeyed until Taim relays it. Now, this could just be good discipline, but it’s definitely something that Rand should be worried about: who is actually in charge of the Asha’man, Rand or Taim?

I should also point out that Taim not only trained the men how to channel, but also how to be soldiers. They have pre-established commands and the discipline required to carry them out in combat. The coordination they demonstrate in forming a large dome in tiles and coordinating their attacks in measured waves is really impressive considering that Taim hasn’t had all that much time with them. The Aes Sedai don’t train for battle like this: they seem to work independently, just channeling attacks at will. Taim is a fantastic general.

Finally, he’s harsh with the Aes Sedai… but, frankly, this seems like the only good move for him to make here. The Aes Sedai’s maneuvering is what caused this battle in the first place. Laying the blame on the Shaido, Elaida, or the Black Ajah doesn’t cover it: the Aes Sedai are causing more harm than good, even for their own goals. Rand needs to get them in line before Tarmon Gai’don. Perhaps this entire experience was a necessary lesson: “This comes of trusting Aes Sedai. Never again; not an inch; not a hair.”