The Wheel of Time: Book Ten, Crossroads of Twilight

Today we’re talking about Crossroads of Twilight and before we get started I need to say: Goddamn is this book dense! It’s one of the shorter books in the series and, in some ways, it feels less epic than most of the others, but this is probably the most complex book in the series thus far. I’m going to do my best to condense things into an easy-to-digest summary, but you’ll need to bear with me a bit, as there’s just a ton of stuff to cover.

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 (or get some help in keeping track of everything that happened.) There will be spoilers. If you haven’t read the book yet, go do that before reading this post.

Summary

The various storylines in this book start mid-way through the last book, Winter’s Heart. Each perspective marks, via the characters who can channel, when Rand and Nynaeve begin cleansing saidin, as it can be felt throughout the world. Though the time jumps make it a bit tricky to line things up perfectly, by the end of the book it’s nearly spring and it seems as though we’ll start the next book roughly synchronized.

• Rodel Ituralde
  • In the Prologue, which was originally released six months before Crossroads of Twilight with the title “Glimmers of the Pattern”, we get a perspective chapter for Rodel Ituralde, known as the “Wolf.” We’ve actually heard of Ituralde a few times now. He’s a Domani and one of the Five Great Captains. We learned that he was a Great Captain in chapter 27 of The Fires of Heaven, when he was mentioned alongside Agelmar Jagad, Davram Bashere, Pedron Niall, and Gareth Bryne.
  • In chapter 6 of Lord of Chaos, we saw Graendal take the form of Lady Basene (also Domani) and meet with Ituralde. We didn’t see exactly what they discussed, but we know that she was doing this after secretly going to Shayol Ghul and that she intended to sow chaos. Then, in The Path of Daggers, we saw Graendal send a sealed message to Ituralde, with the Hand and Sword seal of Arad Doman. She specifically ordered for human blood to be on the letter: “enough for realism; not enough to spoil what I wrote.” She wanted Ituralde to believe that the letter came directly from King Alsalam and that Gray Men had tried to stop it. She hid this plan from Moridin and the other Chosen, thinking to herself that she wasn’t forbidden from doing this and that she will be Nae’blis in the end.
  • Back to Crossroads of Twilight, Ituralde thinks to himself that King Alsalam had been a friend and a good king, but lately “the orders the King sent could not have been better written to achieve chaos.” Thankfully, Ituralde received one good order – “one that a Gray Man killed Lady Tuva to stop from reaching him” – and he’s dodging the King’s couriers so he can commit himself fully to this order. To this end, he offers a truce with the Dragonsworn in Arad Doman so they can work together to push the Seanchan out.
• The White Tower
  • Saerin, Seaine, Yukiri, Doesine, and Pevara are still hunting the Black Ajah. As the Black Ajah organizes itself into “Hearts” – groups of three where each member knows the other two and one other Black Ajah that the other two in her Heart doesn’t know – they can’t yet make any major move, though they did learn that Galina is Black Ajah from Talene.
  • This group also notices that the choices for new Sitters, raised to fill gaps left by the split, don’t make sense, as they’re all too young. Siuan also notices this for the rebels, so this is happening within both Halls. The group in Tar Valon conclude that there’s a chance that the Heads of the Ajahs are colluding on new Sitters, when they shouldn’t even officially know who the other Heads are.
  • Alviarin returns after being gone for a month to find that Elaida is no longer afraid of her. Elaida openly states that she’s building a case for treason against Alviarin, which Alviarin takes to mean that Elaida knows that she’s Black Ajah. I’m not actually sure whether Elaida even suspects Alviarin of this or is just confident that she can frame her. Alviarin is no longer Keeper, replaced by Tarna Feir. Recall that we first met Tarna in Lord of Chaos, when she was Elaida’s emissary to Salidar.
  • In a panic, Alviarin uses a red rod ter’angreal to summon Mesaana. Mesaana is not sympathetic. Mesaana also already knows about what happened, so she definitely has others ways to gather information close to Elaida.
  • While Mesaana and Alviarin are speaking, Shadar Haran enters the room, sealing away the Source and terrifying both women. He dispels Mesaana’s disguise, revealing her to be a blue-eyed woman wearing bronze-embroidered green, just short of her middle years and without the Aes Sedai’s agelessness. She seems familiar to Alviarin, but she can’t identify her. Shaidar Haran punishes Mesaana for ignoring a summons. He also marks Alviarin as one of his: Mesaana won’t harm her unless Shaidar Haran grants her permission to do so. He charges Alviarin with finding the group hunting the Black Ajah and delivering them to him.
    • Note that I’m pretty confident that we don’t yet have enough clues to figure out who Mesaana is.
• Gawyn
  • Gawyn is still with the Younglings. They were expelled from the city – disowned by Elaida – but now she wants them back. Gawyn is alone in feeling that, since Elaida disowned them, they shouldn’t have any obligation to follow her: the other Younglings are still loyal. Gawyn doesn’t actually stand up for anything though; he’ll still follow Elaida (though we haven’t yet seen how this could change given what happens to Egwene at the end of the book.)
• The Seanchan
  • We get a perspective chapter for Furyk Karede, a Seanchan Deathwatch Guard, and his servant, Ajimbura. Karede is a Banner-General, promoted for success in battle, but the primary responsibility of Deathwatch Guards is to guard the royal family and Karede knows that Tuon is missing.
  • Karede has an attachment to Tuon that he shouldn’t have, having specifically requested to be assigned to Tuon multiple times. He also kept a gift from Tuon: her favorite doll, which she gave to him after he saved her life when she was very little. (Though, the doll was lost in a fire.) He was struck that even at a very young age, Tuon was “already aware she might not live to do her duty yet trying to do it anyway.”
  • Almurat Mor, the Seeker investigating the conspiracy surrounding Suroth and Egeanin, meets with Karede to discuss the conspiracy and Tuon’s disappearance, also indicating that some of the Seekers above him must be involved. He’s aware that Thom and Mat have a connection to Tylin and the Aes Sedai, suspecting that Thom is the leader there. Moreover, Mor is aware that two damane, former Aes Sedai, were taken from the palace on the same night that Tylin was murdered and Tuon vanished. He suspects that the White Tower may have sent Thom on a mission. Of course, he also knows about the Sul’dam who left, and their connection to Egeanin.
    • Recall, since it’s been a while since it’s come up, that Suroth serves the same master as Liandrin, making her a Darkfriend. There really is a scandal among the Seanchan, but Mor hasn’t put it all together yet.
  • The day after meeting with Mor, Karede leaves, in disguise, to meet with a force of 100 Guard, 20 Ogier Gardeners in full armor, two weeks of supplies on pack animals, six damane, and some Sul’dam. Among the damane is Mylen, who was favored by Tuon. Mylen was once the Aes Sedai Sheraine Caminelle, but now she loves and worships Tuon. The group doesn’t know where Tuon’s kidnappers are, but they suspect that they’re not heading due east or going straight north… which is correct, as Mat’s group is traveling northeast towards Lugard.
• Rand
  • Deira, Davram Bashere’s wife, is stabbed by men searching their tents for something. Dobraine is also stabbed by men with the same orders. It seems that someone is trying to find where Rand has hidden the three seals on Shai’tan’s prison.
  • Rand is alive after cleansing saidin, but he’s weakened and he still suffers from bouts of nausea and dizziness when he seizes saidin. Lews Therin is still in his head, perhaps even more so, and both wounds on his side remain.
  • Rand also continues to occasionally see a face that he can’t make out. Also note that Rand, Perrin, and Mat all continue to see a swirl of color and a vague image whenever they think of each other. The image they see isn’t clear, but they do seem to actually see a bit of what the other person is doing.
  • Logain is well aware of the schism in the Black Tower and warns Rand that if he doesn’t start focusing on the Black Tower soon he’ll come to find that the Asha’man follow Taim, not Rand. He also explains that Taim ordered the bonding of the Aes Sedai and that he did so in Rand’s name: Taim orders many things in Rand’s name. Rand is not happy with the Aes Sedai being bonded.
  • Logain knows that saidin is clean now, but he doesn’t believe that Rand did it. Nobody seems to know or believe that Rand had anything to do with cleansing saidin except those who were present, and the Aes Sedai with him aren’t yet certain whether it’s been fully cleansed.
  • Elza and Alivia see themselves as Rand’s guardians, in a sense. Alivia does so because she credits Rand with releasing her and feels that she owes him. Elza is still a devout Darkfriend and zealously believes that she must bring Rand to Tarmon Gai’don so Shai’tan can defeat him.
  • Rand decides that he cannot fight both the Seanchan and Shai’tan. He sends Bashere and Logain to meet with the Seanchan to forge an alliance. The Seanchan are open to talks, but only if Rand meets with Tuon in person. Recall that Tuon plans to bring Rand to kneel before the Crystal Throne and that the Seanchan seized the male a’dam from Egeanin and Domon.
• Elayne
  • Caemlyn is under siege by Arymilla Marne and her supporters. Bashere and Bael’s forces are camped nearby, but Elayne doesn’t want their support as it would weaken her political position. Similarly, she knows that using the One Power to personally attack her enemies would destroy her political position even if she succeeded in defeating the armies arrayed against her. Nobody involved in the conflict wants it to erupt into battle: the goal for everyone involved is to try to out-maneuver the rest and put them into a position where they surrender peacefully. However, blunders are possible and could cost a lot of lives.
  • Elayne has been Traveling around the country gathering support. She accepts levies, but her real goal is to simply spread positive awareness of herself. It seems as though Arymilla isn’t anywhere near this savvy.
  • Elayne is pregnant with twins. She doesn’t know the sexes yet, but we know – from Min’s viewing – that they’ll be a boy and a girl. Birgitte and Aviendha are ensuring that she doesn’t eat or drink anything wrong or overexert herself, which is extremely frustrating for Elayne. We learn that being able to channel will protect Elayne from birthing sickness, but she’ll have trouble channeling throughout the pregnancy, completely losing the ability while she’s in labor (which doesn’t sound ominous at all.) This will recover immediately after birth.
  • Birgitte is forgetting her past lives and is terrified that she’ll forget Gaidal Cain.
  • Vandene is going a bit crazy with grief for her sister.
  • Elayne publicly dresses down Doilin Mellar for getting into a battle he didn’t need to. She’s still supporting the rumors that he is the father of her children. Recall that Mellar is an alias of Daved Hanlon (also an alias) who is working for Mili Skane, who is using the identity of Shiaine Avarhin. Hanlon was promised the chance to rape Elayne and he still looks forward to it.
  • There have been a number of arsons in Caemlyn recently. The perpetrator is trying to destroy the city’s food reserves. Thus far, Birgitte has been successful in protecting the stores. The attacks were ordered by Skane.
  • The Atha’an Miere learn that Nesta din Reas Two Moons is dead, killed by Seanchan, and they plan to leave to choose the next Mistress of the Ships. Given that the Windfinders have been helping to keep the Gateways open for supplying Caemlyn, this would cripple Elayne’s military position. Elayne strikes a new bargain: she will cede one square mile of good land on the river to the Atha’an Miere in perpetuity, subject only to their law, and in return nine Windfinders will remain to keep the Gateways open until Elayne is queen. They will not take part in the fighting.
  • Merilille left in secret and took an Atha’an Miere apprentice with her. We don’t know for sure which apprentice, but it’s likely Talaan, who wanted Nynaeve to take her to become Aes Sedai. Recall that Merilille is one of the three people who could have murdered Adeleas, though our only current evidence actually points to Sareitha, who skipped out on a lesson with the Atha’an Miere at around the same time that Mili Skane contacted her agent in the palace.
  • To claim the throne, Elayne will need at least 10 of the 19 strong Houses’ support. Arymilla currently has 6 openly supporting her. Elayne meets with the High Seats of four Houses: Mantear, Haevin, Giyard, and Northan. They turn out to be shockingly young and without accompanying guardians or advisors, but they are firm in their support of Elayne. With Dyelin’s support and her own House, this brings her to six, matching Arymilla. Of the remaining Houses, three want Dyelin on the throne, even though she support Elayne and doesn’t want it herself.
  • Arymilla has both Elenia and Naean as prisoners, which is a common tactic in Andor when trying to claim the throne. Naean seems to be focused entirely on escaping, but Elenia aims to seize the throne for herself. Nasin is intelligent but insane and is being manipulated by Arymilla, who he believes to be his daughter. Nasin wants Elenia for a wife, despite her marriage to Jarid. Arymilla used Elenia to extort a pledge of support from Jarid. To achieve the throne, Elenia plans to kill both Arymilla and Nasin.
• Mili Skane and Daved Hanlon
  • Shiaine is in Caemlyn and has been orchestrating the arsons, among other things.
  • Falion is still serving Shiaine as part of her punishment. Marillin Gemalphin is also under Shiaine’s command.
  • Hanlon is followed while walking through the city. He kills the man but doesn’t know who sent him, suspecting either Birgitte or Shiaine. Hanlon is in a precarious position: Birgitte could kill him as a rival or by finding out what he’s doing or Shiaine could kill him just to tie up loose ends. Hanlon is shocked to learn that Shiaine knows things about his past that seem impossible to know.
  • To protect himself, Hanlon has formed a secret alliance with Falion. He’s supposed to be raping her as part of her punishment, but the two are exchanging information instead. However, it seems that Shiaine knows about this secret arrangement. In the end, Hanlon plans on killing Shiaine, Gemalphin, and Falion, leaving no survivors from this group.
• Perrin
  • Perrin keeps a leather cord on him and ties a new knot on it each day that he’s apart from Faile. When we first jump to Perrin’s perspective, he’s at 22 days. The camp is in low spirits and they’re low on supplies. Rumors that Perrin has been sleeping with Berelain while Faile is gone have soured Perrin’s relations with the Two Rivers men.
  • A very large group of Darkhounds (at least 50) scouts the camp and moves on. We learn that Darkhounds are made when a Darkhound eats a wolf’s soul and the wolves fear them in a way that Perrin has never felt a wolf fear anything else. When he asks the wolves about them, all they say is that the Last Hunt – Tarmon Gai’don – is coming. Masuri studied Darkhounds and knows that there are at least eight packs of Darkhounds in total as this pack isn’t one of the seven she’s already encountered. This pack is in a hurry and has probably been on the hunt for a while. They’ll remain focused on the target of their hunt, only killing others if it doesn’t interfere with the hunt, until they complete it. Perrin asks a very ominous question: “Can they eat a man’s soul, Elyas? Say, a man who can talk to wolves?”
  • Masema and his forces continue to stay near Perrin’s. People occasionally go missing, clearly taken by Masema, but there’s little Perrin can do about it: Masema’s forces are ill-equipped and disorganized, but they outnumber Perrin’s forces and even if he did defeat them the survivors would split off and rove the countryside as bandits.
  • Balwer thinks that Masema has been meeting with the Whitecloaks and Perrin thinks Masema has been meeting with the Seanchan.
  • Masema had a letter from Suroth, granting the bearer of the letter her protection and aid.
  • Annoura and Masuri have been meeting with Masema in secret.
  • Berelain finally stopped sexually harassing Perrin and now seems to be sincerely helping him keep himself together and rescue Faile. Perrin seems to take this at face value, but it seems more likely that she’s just pausing her contest with Faile out of a sense of pride and sportsmanship.
  • Perrin gets a map of Malden, where the Shaido are gathered, and he has a rough estimate of their numbers; enough to know that he’s overwhelmingly outnumbered.
  • With 32 knots on his cord, Perrin’s camp has nearly run out of food and they’ve resorted to eating ground up acorns found from squirrel caches. To secure new supplies, a small group heads to So Habor. Upon arriving they discover that the spirits of the dead are rising as ghosts in So Habor and the inhabitants have all stopped washing themselves or, seemingly, caring about anything at all in life. The warehouses have all spoiled, with the food bags half full of weevils and even the oil smelling rancid. They winnow the larger grains and beans, finding enough food for a while longer. The Aes Sedai want to leave someone behind to investigate, but Perrin can’t spare any Aes Sedai while trying to rescue Faile.
  • Perrin orders for Shaido prisoners to be found. When he returns from So Habor, five men have been taken prisoner and one is being tortured. Perrin initially stops the torture, but then takes over, chopping a prisoner’s hand off with his axe and commanding that they will be split up and questioned with a failure to answer truthfully met with a limb being hacked off of each of them. Even if all of their hands and feet are cut off, he’ll have them Healed and left in a town to beg. Even Masema is stunned by this and the Shaido give in. However, they don’t actually know anything useful. Horrified and disgusted with himself, Perrin throws his axe away. He never came to like holding it, but he can’t carry it anymore.
  • Balwer finds Tallanvor in So Habor. Tallanvor knows of a group of 15,000 Seanchan, mostly Taraboners, and a dozen damane who might be willing to work with Perrin to defeat the Shaido. Perrin is willing to consider this.
• Faile
  • Faile is still enslaved. She estimates that there are more than 70,000 Shaido and nearly as many gai’shain, as well as more than 400 Wise Ones. She wants to escape before Perrin finds the camp as she’s worried that he’ll attack even though odds are overwhelmingly against him.
  • Bain and Chiad will help Faile and the other Wetlanders escape, but they will remain a year and a day as they are subject to ji’e’toh.
  • Arrela and Lacile managed to escape, briefly, but are caught and punished.
  • An Aiel man tries to rape Faile, citing Sevannah’s abandonment of Aiel custom as justification. Rolan, the Mera’din who caught Faile, rescues Faile. He flirts with her in the Aiel way, trying to make her laugh and asking if she wants to talk some time. Faile remains faithful to Perrin, but Alliandre suggests doing what she has to do to get back to Perrin.
  • Galina found Faile’s hidden dagger and has Faile punished on suspicion of planning to escape. Now it will be almost impossible for Faile to escape. As punishment, she’s tortured by being bound in a painful position and left outside overnight in the cold. Rolan keeps her company, providing heat, support for her body, and massage to alleviate the pain. Faile laughs, accepting that she’s found a way to escape.
• Mat
  • Mat, the remaining Redarms, Olver, Thom, Juilin, Noal, the three Aes Sedai, the three Sul’dam, Egeanin, Domon, Setalle, Selucia, and Tuon are all hiding in Luca’s show to escape the Seanchan (or as prisoners.) They’re traveling to Lugard, but the show moves very slowly: they might not arrive until summer.
  • The Atha’an Miere who escaped due to Mat managed to steal some Greatships and leave, but the way out was very bloody and destroyed a great number of ships. Mat notes that the Seanchan lack the ships to return across the Aryth Ocean and he feels guilty for the deaths caused by his actions.
  • Egeanin and Mat butt heads over who’s in charge, but Mat’s the one with the gold.
  • Along the way, Mat courts Tuon. She continues to call him “Toy” and doesn’t immediately respond to his courting, but is clearly courting him back. Mat learns that, despite being small, Tuon is nineteen years old.
  • Tuon strangely asks Mat if he remembers Hawkwing’s face. He does, from his memories, but doesn’t admit it.
  • Tylin was killed, likely by the gholam, while still tied up after Mat left her. Mat feels guilt for this as though he killed her himself.
  • Mat learns that the Seanchan wedding ceremony involves both parties stating “She is my wife”/”He is my husband” three times in front of witnesses. For the Blood, this doesn’t need to be done simultaneously: just within a year and a day. Given that Mat said that Tuon was his wife three times upon learning that she’s the Daughter of the Nine Moons, she can choose to marry him at any time by simply stating that he’s her husband three times.
  • The Seanchan “prisoners” make no attempts to escape or seek rescue, despite ample opportunity. In light of this, Mat goes shopping for cloth with Tuon and Selucia.
  • While Mat is out shopping, Renna (the Sul’dam who trained Egwene) stabs Egeanin and flees.
    • Egeanin reveals why Renna would want to stab her: because Egeanin knows the secret that Sul’dam are capable of channeling. Note that Tuon likes to train damane personally, meaning that she must also be capable of at least some channeling.
    • Egeanin is Healed, but they all know that the Seanchan will come for them quickly if Renna is allowed to betray them. Mat takes a few men with him to chase and tells the others to flee and wait for his return. They catch up to Renna just as she’s about to crest the last hill before Coramen, which would be her escape. Mat orders Harnan to shoot her. Like Rand, Mat keeps a tally of the women who have died because of him (he counts the three names he knows and also spent some time earlier doing the math on the number of destroyed ships in Ebou Dar after he freed the Atha’an Miere.)
  • Back at Luca’s show, Mat finds that nobody fled and Tuon presented Luca with an official document of her protection. Mat realizes, beyond a doubt, that Tuon is just biding her time to wed him and that he’s truly caught.
• Egwene
  • Egwene and Bryne have begun the siege of Tar Valon, but it’s still in the early stages. They weren’t able to block the harbor with boats, as Bryne initially planned, so the White Tower is still able to gain supplies and reinforcements. Egwene is unwilling, at least for now, to use Traveling to send the army into the city, as this would be risk dramatically reducing the Aes Sedai’s strength shortly before Tarmon Gai’don (and it would be very bloody, something that Egwene personally wants to avoid if possible.)
  • Egwene continues to live as though she’s already bound by the Three Oaths, not even channeling to sink ships bringing supplies to Tar Valon.
  • From Egwene’s wording, it’s clear that she considers the Asha’man to be enemies, grouping them together with Darkfriends. The rebel Aes Sedai believe that Rand has used Compulsion on the Aes Sedai following him and Egwene suspects this as well: she doesn’t have much, if any, trust for Rand.
  • The great iron chains that are used to defend the harbor are described in detail. We also learn that Egwene has rediscovered the method to create cuendillar: a weave of fire, earth, and air that transforms iron into white cuendillar. Egwene has a workshop set up to train others to do this, with the excuse that they’ll sell what they create to fund the war. Egwene is capable of transforming iron into cuendillar instantly, but most Aes Sedai struggle to do it at all, or do so very slowly. We also see, in another very detailed scene, that the process is capable of fusing iron and cuendillar together in a mess. From the text, it’s pretty obvious that Egwene plans to transform the chains used to defend Tar Valon into cuendillar in order to block off the harbor and cut off supplies, but only Egwene, Siuan, and the Hall know that this is her plan.
  • Halima – Aran’gar – continues to go undetected. It seems likely that Halima is causing Egwene’s headaches as they’re the only one who can cure them. Halima has also been murdering people in the camp using saidin to avoid suspicion. In particular, Halima kills some of the scarce few people who can create cuendillar, leaving only Bodewhin and Egwene.
  • Politics among the rebel Aes Sedai continue to develop in intrigue. Romanda and Lelaine continue to vie for power and oppose Egwene, but Egwene’s status as Amyrlin Seat seems to be more solid than it was before. Each Ajah has an advisor set to influence and spy on Egwene, but Egwene successfully manipulated the choosing so that her advisors are those who swore oaths to her (at least, until Anaiya is murdered.)
  • Delana, who Halima supposedly serves, proposes negotiations with Elaida. Egwene grants permission, but won’t budge on the requirement that Elaida go into exile, a requirement she knows will make negotiations impossible. The debate over negotiations causes more discord among the Aes Sedai.
  • Egwene tries to bring Romanda into her plan to tie the Kin to the Aes Sedai by allowing Aes Sedai to retire into the Kin, freeing themselves of the Three Oaths and regaining longer lifespans. Romanda is horrified by the idea.
  • The camp’s food stores are spoiling, filled with an infestation of weevils and a quick spoiling of the meet. The supplies were wrapped in a Keeping and the weather is very cold, which should have prevented anything from spoiling, so this is strange: either there’s a saboteur, saidar is failing, or we’re seeing Shai’tan reach out, apocalyptically, to further the famine it began when it altered the weather.
  • The enormous number of new Novices, brought in by Egwene lifting the age restriction, is taxing the Aes Sedai’s ability to keep them organized. Fortunately, Sharina Melloy, the old novice with a potential at least as high as Nynaeve’s, organized them into “Families” of “Cousins”.
  • Nicola and Areina go missing. Nicola was so obnoxious, constantly making up Foretellings, that her Family covered for her just to make sure that she actually got away. It seems likely that Nicola has learned Traveling and she has a fairly high potential, so this could become significant.
  • Siuan, via Leane’s eyes-and-ears in the White Tower, notes that the new Sitters are all uncommonly young for both the Tower and the rebels. She can’t figure out why this is happening, but there’s definitely something going on. She also notes that it’s unlikely that all the new Sitters and the Ajah Heads are Black Ajah, as that would mean that the Black Ajah has already taken over.
  • In response to surge of saidar caused by Rand and Nynaeve’s usage of the Choedan Kal, Moira brings forward a proposal to send a group to form an agreement with the Asha’man so they can link with them and create larger circles. The proposal meets the lesser consensus, but they’re very firm that it’s not an alliance and the bonds they form must put the men at a severe disadvantage. Egwene asserts that Compulsion will not be allowed. Note, by the way, that Egwene remembers the weave for Compulsion from Moghedien, but she’s firmly committed to never using it or allowing others to do so if she can stop them.
  • Egwene has a True Dream of Mat, bowling over pins that represent thousands of men each, and an Illuminator is somehow part of it. I really think that Mat and Aludra are going to create and use cannons.
  • Egwene also has a True Dream that a Seanchan will offer to save her and that the White Tower will be attacked by the Seanchan.
  • Just as Bodewhin is heading out to fulfill Egwene’s plan to turn the chains in Tar Valon’s harbor into cuendillar, Egwene decides that it isn’t right for the Amyrlin Seat to make a Novice do this when she can do it better herself. Egwene takes Bodewhin’s place and successfully turns the chain to cuendillar in an instant. She is then captured, betrayed by someone who knew of her plan, and fed forkroot.

The Point: Testing Principles

Here we are, some five thousand words in, and just past the summary. I really did try to shorten it as much as I could, but Crossroads of Twilight is just an immensely complicated book. I’m mostly saying that in praise. The world of The Wheel of Time is a rich and complex one and Robert Jordan clearly had a zealous passion for keeping track of all the threads in his Pattern. I would much rather read something a little bit complicated than just drop plot lines whenever they become inconvenient. That said, I’m really not sure how well someone reading the series casually could keep track of all the names and plot lines.

Our theme this time around is testing principles. Do you want to do it the easy way or the right way? In Crossroads of Twilight, we get two things: sieges and hard choices. Whether we’re trying to unify the White Tower while following the Three Oaths, keep Caemlyn without foreign aid, question an Aiel, or silence a traitor, we see our characters subject to immense pressure to break with their principles.

This pressure forces our characters to demonstrate how they’ve changed since they first set out. Egwene, in particular, really stands out here: we can plainly see how much she’s grown from the entitled girl who wanted all the power without any of the responsibility into one of the most responsible characters we have.

For the series, as a work of literature, we continue “the slog’s” slow march to Tarmon Gai’don. It’s kind of crazy to look back to the first few books and see how much has changed for both the world and our characters. Watching the world progress to the state it’s in now makes it feel familiar to us as readers. This familiarity makes us care more about the world and it provides a baseline to heighten the sense of otherness we feel for Shai’tan. When we first started the series, everything was new and mysterious. Remember the aura of mystery that used to surround the Aes Sedai? Now that most of the world feels like home, the few dark corners we haven’t really seen yet are all the more disturbing.

On a more practical level, we also get to see how sieges work. I think this serves to teach us a bit more about how war works in this world so we’ll have the context to follow Tarmon Gai’dain when we get there. The sieges also loop back into our theme directly, as a siege is essentially a test of which side is better prepared for an assault, which is a combination of resolve, cunning, and reality.

Let’s dig into some details.

Siege

In Crossroads of Twilight, we get to three sieges: Egwene’s siege of Tar Valon, the siege against Elayne in Caemlyn, and Perrin’s sort-of siege of the Shaido in Malden.

What is a siege?

What comes to mind when you think of a siege? I think we fans of fantasy could be forgiven for thinking of scenes like the Battle of Helm’s Deep from Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers, but that wasn’t really much of a siege. It was a fantastic battle, but the word “siege” refers to sitting. The specifics vary based on the technology and customs of the time and place, but basically, an attacker wants to get into a fortification and they either can’t or don’t want to risk a direct assault, so they blockade the place, cutting off supplies and reinforcements (this is technically referred to as “investment.”)

The note on technology and custom there is actually pretty important. Assaulting settlements looks very different depending on when and where you look, and I’m not just talking about pre-modern vs. modern. Once again, I’ll direct you to some fantastic articles from Devereaux if you want an exceedingly deep dive, but let me see if I can provide a really quick summary.

First off, consider why you would fortify a location. Walls, castles, and guards are expensive and require upkeep. Castles, in particular, aren’t all that comfortable either. If you live in a nice neighborhood, do you put bars on your windows? Do you pay for a monthly security service if you’re not worried about getting robbed? If you do pay for a security service, are you worried that the people protecting you might be the ones to rob you, either of your things or your privacy? If you have Ring, you might want to do a web search for “Ring” and “police.” My point is, there are costs to securing something and no sane person would attempt to make themselves absolutely, perfectly secure. Even if that were possible, it would be ridiculously expensive and uncomfortable. No, we need to make a reasonable decision as to what level of security we can afford.

That level of security will differ based on your neighbors. How likely are they to attack you? What sort of attack can they muster? What sort of rules are they likely to follow? Is it safe to leave your front door unlocked? How about your back door? What about your windows? Do you expect a thief to be scared off by your dog, or are you worried that thief might hurt your dog to get in? Are you worried about your coworkers knowing how much money is in your wallet? How about a stranger? Does it matter whether it’s day or night, or whether it’s crowded? Would you feel safer if someone walked you to your car after work? Does it matter how big they are or what gender, or is it enough not to be alone? These decisions might feel purely practical, but there’s a lot of culture wrapped up in this.

Practical Concerns

Let’s not forget about the practical concerns either.

In my coverage of The Path of Daggers, I talked a fair bit about feeding armies. Recall that one of the trickiest things to do with an army is to remain still, as you quickly run out of local people to forage. If you control a river near to your camp, then you might be able to resupply through there, but you’d better make sure that you don’t lose control of that river. Without a river (or trains) you’ll need to consider wagons, but – as we discussed before – wagons don’t scale all that well, as the people and animals transporting the supplies need to eat too. Traveling changes this, but if you’re relying purely on Traveling then the people opening the Gateways become a bottleneck and you’d better protect and keep them.

Disease is always a concern when dealing with a large number of people, and again, this is exacerbated by having a large group of people standing still. An army passing through a region can really ruin the place for the locals, but so long as they keep moving, there’s not too much risk of polluting the army’s water source, as they’re not using the same one for too long. In a siege, this becomes far more tricky. Disease can be just as deadly as weapons, if not more so.

I really liked the attention to detail in our sieges here. Perrin’s army is driven to eating acorns dug from squirrel caches, which presses him into buying the spoiled (and haunted) food from So Habor. They have it winnowed, but this isn’t a perfect solution: they’re bringing a lot of weevils back to the camp. Note that even the oil had gone bad. Perrin’s facing a real time limit on getting Faile back before his army starves to the point where he either needs to order a retreat or he’ll lose control.

Elayne and Egwene are a bit better off here, but we also see Elayne forced to cede land to the Atha’an Miere just to keep the Gateways open. Bear in mind that giving away land to foreigners isn’t a good look for Elayne right now, when she’s specifically fighting the narrative that she’s a puppet of foreign powers. Egwene is probably the best off of these three, but even she’s worried about continuing to fund the war. Selling the cuendillar practice items was cover for her plan to block the harbor, but it could bring in some real revenue. Yet, how does this make the rebels look? Selling trinkets hurts the image of the Aes Sedai and makes the rebels look less like the “real” Aes Sedai in the Tower.

In each of these cases, morale and desertion is a real concern as well. The people inside Caemlyn are trapped inside, but Egwene and Perrin’s forces could just walk away if things become too uncomfortable. Even in Caemlyn, anyone sick of the siege might start considering sabotage to end it quickly and maybe come out of it with some personal profit.

But, let’s get back to the principles and social aspect of sieges.

Tar Valon

For Egwene’s siege of Tar Valon, consider this quote from when she sees ships of reinforcements approaching Tar Valon.

“She thought about weaving a flare, a starburst of light, perhaps with a loud bang, just above each of the vessels. That would certainly let anyone aboard with brains realize that neither speed nor distance kept them safe here, only a forbearance born of the Three Oaths. They should know that they were safe because of Aes Sedai.”

Chapter 16, The Subject of Negotiations

Note that Egwene isn’t worried about Elaida’s retaliation here. In terms of the One Power, Egwene’s rebels vastly overpower Elaida’s. Including the novices, Egwene’s numbers are far greater. It’s not just quantity either, many of the novices – as well as Egwene herself – dwarf the older Aes Sedai in Power. They’ve also discovered many new weaves. Bear in mind, too, that the White Tower is a tower. How easy would it be for Egwene to Travel in with a bunch of soldiers and a couple of full circles and simply burn the Tower down from the bottom up? Egwene’s one of only a few women with any real talent for manipulating earth, would she even need to enter the city to knock the Tower down?

But Egwene won’t even sink a ship, as that would be a violation of the Three Oaths. She’s trying to heal the Aes Sedai, not conquer or destroy them.

Yet, it’s not as though the conflict between the two factions of Aes Sedai is somehow ethical or honest. These are cultural rules and they’re arbitrary. Sinking a ship is wrong, but using a newly rediscovered weave to change iron into cuendillar as part of the investment against Tar Valon is perfectly fair. There’s a decent chance that people will die because of this too: Elaida might surrender before she starves, but do you think she’ll surrender before the poorest laborer in Tar Valon starves? The Aes Sedai on both sides would agree that sinking a ship is a violation of the Three Oaths… but there’s more ambiguity around opening a Gateway to allow soldiers to flood the city. This is something Egwene is avoiding based on her strategy, not out of adherence to custom.

Note that these rules aren’t even static. What someone is unwilling to do today might not be the same tomorrow. Egwene really, really doesn’t like being chained.

Caemlyn

Similarly, Elayne’s options in Caemlyn are restricted, as are those of her attackers. Elayne notes, explicitly, that she can’t just channel to destroy the enemy armies. I mean, she could, but it would turn Andor against her. Even if she managed to retain her authority by sheer terror, that’s not the sort of queen she intends to become. Elayne won’t even use Rand’s forces, camped nearby. Bael and Bashere both want to intervene, if only out of anger in how thoroughly – and sloppily – the Andoran armies ignore them. I have to wonder whether the armies turning a blind spot to Bael and Bashere is intentional bait: even a single raid from the Aiel could be used as propaganda to paint Elayne as a puppet of Rand, subject to foreign influence.

In fact, none of the High Seats want the conflict to erupt into violence. They all know that it could, but their collective goal is to challenge each other in a way that proves who would win, then say that’s good enough. This does not, however, mean that they’re all playing fair. Kidnapping, even the threat of rape, is considered perfectly fair, as we see with Arymilla’s treatment of Naean and Elenia. Assassination is fine too. Again, this isn’t about ethics, it’s about the cultural rules of conflict. The people don’t mind if the Queen of Andor employs kidnappers and assassins, but she certainly can’t be a puppet, and nobody’s quite sure what it would mean for the Queen to be Aes Sedai.

Malden

So, calling Perrin’s camp a “siege” of Malden isn’t strictly correct, as the Shaido don’t even know that he’s there, but it’s similar. And, similar to Egwene and Elayne, Perrin’s contending with some tricky cultural rules. Not only is he dealing with Aiel custom, but he’s dealing with the changing rules of the Shaido.

We see this most clearly from Faile’s perspective when she approaches Chiad about escaping.

“I will help you as far as I can because it is not right for the Shaido to hold you. You do not follow ji’e’toh. I do. If I cast aside my honor and my obligations just because the Shaido have, then I allow them to decide how I will act. I will wear white for a year and a day and then they will release me, or I will walk away, but I will not throw away who I am.”

Chapter 9, Traps

We’ll talk more about Perrin’s use of torture later on, but consider that the Shaido are foreign invaders with no reservation against taking slaves. As we see with Faile, even the common Shaido are starting to consider – for example – whether it’s acceptable to rape their gai’shain. When one side throws custom away, it creates an easy justification for the other side to throw away their principles as well. If the Shaido were “playing by the rules,” would Perrin consider working with Masema or the Seanchan? Would he consider torture? Even if Faile were taken prisoner, how different might Perrin’s reaction have been if he was confident that she was safe or if he could pay a ransom for her?

So, are there principles or aren’t there?

The reality is that societies don’t really follow any sort of strict rules of war: to the extent that forces are restricted by society, it’s an ephemeral thing, specific to that conflict and that moment. That doesn’t mean that forces are entirely unscrupulous, just that their principles are formed by their strategic goals.

Egwene wants to unify and heal the Aes Sedai, so she isn’t willing to win a battle at the cost of a strong and unified White Tower. Elayne wants the throne: there’s no point in defeating Arymilla if she loses any sense of legitimacy as the Queen of Andor. Perrin just wants his wife back, but would she still love him if he resorted to despicable acts to free her? Likewise, Faile wants to get back to Perrin: is it worth sleeping with Rolan to do so?

That seems like a good segue into moving on from sieges to focus more on our characters.

Perrin and Faile

Perrin’s dilemma in chapter 27 – What Must Be Done – was just heart-wrenching. The whole chapter was incredible, but there’s one part in particular that I thought was absolutely amazing. Just before Perrin hacks off the Aiel man’s hand, we get this stream-of-consciousness paragraph:

What had to be done. Perrin looked at the faces around him. Arganda, scowling with hatred, at him as much as the Shaido, now. Masema, stinking of madness and filled with a scornful hate. You must be willing and able to hurt a stone. Edarra, her face as unreadable as the Aes Sedai’s, arms folded calmly beneath her breasts. Even Shaido know how to embrace pain. It will take days. Sulin, the scar across her cheek still pale on her leathery skin, her gaze level and her scent implacable. They will yield slowly and as little as possible. Berelain, smelling of judgment, a ruler who had sentenced men to death and never lost a night’s sleep. What had to be done. Willing and able to hurt a stone. Embrace pain. Oh, Light, Faile.

The axe was as light as a feather rising in his hand, and came down like a hammer on the anvil, the heavy blade shearing through the Shaido’s left wrist.

Chapter 27, What Must Be Done

Then Perrin gives his ultimatum:

“Two hands and two feet. That means you get four chances to answer the same. And if you all hold out, I still won’t kill you. I’ll find a village to leave you in, some place that will let you beg, somewhere the boys will toss a coin to the fierce Aielmen with no hands or feet. You think on it and decide whether it’s worth keeping my wife from me.”

Chapter 27, What Must Be Done

Throughout this section, Perrin also notes the feel of the axe in his hand. Over the course of just a couple of pages he goes from thinking that he “could not have lifted the axe again if he had to for his life” to being “surprised to find that he could lift the axe after all.”

Now, we’ve been waiting on Perrin to get rid of his axe since The Eye of the World. Recall, Perrin and Egwene were running and Perrin knew that they were about to be devoured by ravens. They saw a fox torn apart and Perrin decided that a clean death from his axe would be preferable for Egwene. He was nearly ready to do it when they crossed into the stedding. He never told Egwene, but Elyas knew.

That conversation with Elyas is a near mirror for what we get in Crossroads of Twilight. I really like the adversarial style of Elyas’s advice. In The Eye of the World, he goads Perrin, asking if he hates Egwene so much for dragging her feet and holding him back with her womanish ways that he wanted to kill her. Then, when Perrin starts protesting, he quickly jumps ahead, cutting short Perrin’s self-loathing. That’s when he gave Perrin the advice he keeps thinking back on. “You’ll use it, boy, and as long as you hate using it, you will use it more wisely than most men would. Wait. If ever you don’t hate it any longer, then will be the time to throw it as far as you can and run the other way.”

In Crossroads of Twilight, again, Elyas starts off his advice with a bit of goading. “Did you start liking it? Back there?”

I’m too frightened to spit, in a battle, but I feel more alive than any time except when I’m holding Faile. I don’t think I could stand it if I came to feel that way about what I just did back there. I don’t think Faile would have me back if I came to that.

Chapter 27, What Must Be Done

I really like the nuance here. Perrin isn’t worried about becoming cruel here. Too often in fiction the arc here would be for Perrin to come to enjoy the cruelty itself. He’d become so unambiguously vile that he’d become unrecognizable to readers. I could easily imagine an alternate version of this chapter where Perrin leans into cruelty and anger with the justification that it’s for Faile’s sake. But that’s not what Perrin’s anxious over and Elyas knows it. What Perrin’s feeling is the physical thrill of violence. That he’s anxious and ashamed of it is a mark of his gentle character… and also that he’s kind of an anxious or self-critical person.

I think there’s a good parallel here with Faile’s conundrum in using Rolan to escape the Shaido. She’s fiercely loyal to Perrin, but Rolan likes her and he might be willing to help her. Note Alliandre’s advice here:

“If he helped me escape, I would marry him. Or not, as he wanted. He’s not quite pretty, but it wouldn’t be painful, and my husband, if I had one, would never have to know. If he had any sense, he would be overjoyed to have me back and ask no questions he didn’t want to hear answers to.”

Chapter 9, Traps

It’s clear from Faile’s reaction that she would consider getting involved with Rolan to be a violation of her marriage to Perrin, even under the circumstances. Perhaps Rolan is satisfied with “What happens while you are gai’shain cannot be held against you when you put off the white,” but Faile doesn’t seem okay with it at all.

Yet, Rolan is also her only real option. I’m not sure that Rolan would knowingly help her escape, but he might bring her out to somewhere that she can more easily escape from. When Rolan comforts and massages her while she’s being tortured, she notes that it feels good.

Similar to Perrin, this doesn’t mean that she “likes” it. Perrin chopped of a man’s hand because he thought it would help him find Faile. The physical thrill from this was out of his control. Likewise, Faile doing what she has to do to escape might come with some feelings of comfort or pleasure, but that doesn’t mean that she’s doing it for those reasons.

In the end, Perrin throws away his axe not because he’s come to like it, but out of despair that it didn’t even matter. “Leave it for whoever finds it. Maybe some fool gleeman will make a story out of it.” But, the axe isn’t really the point. Perrin’s a leader now. He can leave his axe behind, but he’ll consider making a deal with the Seanchan to save Faile. That doesn’t mean he has to like it.

Egwene

So, we talked a bit about Egwene earlier, when discussing the siege of Tar Valon, but I want to dig just a little bit deeper here.

Egwene’s growth is absolutely inspiring. When I first started talking about how selfish, entitled, and reckless Egwene was, I got a lot of criticism for it. Even at the time, I kept having to explain that I wasn’t saying that Egwene couldn’t become an admirable person, just that she wasn’t one yet, and that being a bad person at the start of an arc doesn’t make someone a bad character. To the contrary, a good character almost necessarily starts off with some flaws and then grows past them.

More recently, I’ve pointed out that Egwene didn’t really grow into becoming a good Amyrlin. She was just lucky that her particular flaws happen to be perfect for the situation she found herself in. Only someone with an unearned sense of entitlement could have so adroitly stepped into the puppet Amyrlin position and twisted it to her benefit.

Now, finally, I think I can say that Egwene has matured into a truly admirable person. She’s no longer concerned with seizing power for herself, but with doing what’s best for the Aes Sedai. That she’s in charge seems almost incidental to her goals now: she’s only in charge because, frankly, nobody else could be.

This new growth really started when she first came to realize that the Three Oaths are what make someone Aes Sedai, not the mere ability to channel. In that realization, she discovered that limitations aren’t always bad: they can be as important as freedom, sometimes. Egwene isn’t even bound by the Three Oaths, yet she chooses to live by them.

And then we get chapter 30, What the Oath Rod Can Do. Bodewhin is about to cross the river to change the iron chain into cuendillar. It’s risky, but Bode can do it. Here Egwene is reliving when Siuan first charged our characters with rooting out the Black Ajah, but from the other perspective. Bode is in almost the exact same situation that Egwene was in, back then. It’s dangerous, she’s definitely scared, but she knows that she can do it. She’s probably proud of being trusted with such an important task. Egwene, as Amyrlin, knows – rationally – that she can’t do it herself. It’s too risky. If Bode is caught or killed, it would be a loss, but a fairly minor one next to losing the rebel Amyrlin Seat.

Yet, Egwene has come to understand that what was done to her really wasn’t right. At the time, she was hungry for more power, but she was forced. She was lucky to survive and it could have ended differently.

“I know you can. But not as well as I can. Not yet.” That seemed too much like a criticism that the other woman had not earned. “I am the Amyrlin Seat, Bode. Some decisions, only I can make. And some things, I shouldn’t ask a novice to do when I can do them better.” Perhaps that was not a great deal milder, but she could not explain about Larine and Nicola, or the price the White Tower demanded of all its daughters. The Amyrlin could not explain the one to a novice, and a novice was not ready to learn about the other.

Even in the night, the set of Bode’s shoulders said she did not understand, but she had learned not to argue with Aes Sedai, too. Just as she had learned that Egwene was Aes Sedai. The rest, she would learn eventually. The Tower could take all the time it needed to teach her.

Chapter 30, What the Oath Rod Can Do

In chapter 52 of Lord of Chaos, when Egwene arranged for Logain to escape, she asked Siuan if she was doing the right thing. Siuan’s response was: “Do what you must, and pay the price if you’re wrong. Sometimes if you are right, too.”

In chapter 10 of A Crown of Swords, Egwene repeats the lesson to herself. “Do what you must, then pay the price for it, was what she had been taught, by the same women who had marked off those forbidden areas. It was refusal to admit the debt, refusal to pay, that often turned necessity to evil.”

Egwene thinks that this is a lesson she was taught, but I don’t agree. For all of early Egwene’s faults, I think this virtue is something she always knew. When I called Egwene reckless and entitled, I was referring to her hunger for knowledge and power without any real consideration of the cost – yet, though young Egwene didn’t spend enough time considering the cost, I think she was always willing to pay it when it came due. In chapter 5 of The Fires of Heaven, Among the wise Ones, Bair punishes Egwene and Aviendha by having them run around the camp fifty times, naked.

“I know I don’t understand ji’e’toh . . .” Egwene began, and Aviendha laughed.

“You say you do not understand, Aes Sedai, yet you show that you live by it.” Egwene regretted maintaining that lie with her—it had been hard work to get Aviendha to call her simply Egwene, and sometimes she slipped back—but it had to be kept with everyone if it was to hold with anyone. “You are Aes Sedai, and strong enough in the Power to overcome Amys and Melaine together,” Aviendha continued, “but you said that you would obey, so you scrub pots when they say scrub pots, and you run when they say run. You may not know ji’e’toh, but you follow it.”

It was not the same thing at all, of course. She gritted her teeth and did as she was told because that was the only way to learn dreamwalking, and she wanted to learn, to learn everything, more than anything else she could imagine. To even think that she could live by this foolish ji’e’toh was simply silly. She did what she had to do, and only when and because she had to.

They were coming back to where they had begun. As her foot hit the spot, Egwene said, “That’s one,” and ran on through the darkness with no one to see but Aviendha, no one to say whether she went back to her tent right then. Aviendha would not have told, but it never occurred to Egwene to stop short of the fifty.

Chapter 5, Among the Wise Ones

So, in Crossroads of Twilight, Egwene stops Bode, taking her place.

Consider what happens next. She’s caught, yes, and that could be disastrous for the Aes Sedai, but she also succeeds in blocking the harbor. Note that Bode would have almost certainly been caught before she finished, as she’s much slower. She would have been caught and the plan would have been ruined.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that it worked out for the best. If Egwene talks under torture, she could teach the White Tower some truly devastating weaves. I’m not just talking about Traveling: Egwene knows Compulsion. She knows nearly everything about the rebel camp and Bryne’s army. She can also be ransomed or otherwise used as a bargaining chip. The rebel Hall might not mind having their Egwene problem taken care of, but – with the exception of whoever betrayed her – I think the Hall has enough integrity and pride to care that their Amyrlin was taken. This is bad.

But, as we already saw with Siuan, sometimes you can send others in your place and still wind up caught. At least Egwene kept her sense of honor intact. Whatever happens next, I don’t think that Elaida is capable of taking that from her.

Mat

So, most of Mat’s story in Crossroads of Twilight is just him courting Tuon. As I mentioned last time, this is itself a bit of character growth for him. For most of the series, Mat’s been fighting against his fate. Even now, he puts on a show of fighting against it, even to himself, but it’s hard to take it seriously when he’s working so hard to win Tuon over.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter either way, as Mat learns when he returns to from hunting down Renna to find that Tuon has the situation fully in hand, with the little cluster of silk rosebuds pinned to her shoulder. He was always caught. It doesn’t matter if he fights or leans into it, Mat just can’t find any real agency for himself. All he can really choose is how he feels about it, and even that might not really be under his control.

Tuon aside, Mat also has to kill a woman: Renna. Note the parallel between Mat and Rand, both in the scene with Renna and early in the book, when Mat looks over the wreckage in Ebou Dar while trying to calculate how many died because of him. Both Mat and Rand carry a list of women they’ve killed with them. That Mat includes Tylin’s name in his list is also interesting… and sad. He really doesn’t have any mechanism for coming to terms with what Tylin did to him. I fear that he might never get any resolution on this. Tylin abused him, but he liked her, and he’s indirectly responsible for her death. He can’t even really talk about it with anyone else, not so they’d understand him.

The moment with Renna was worded beautifully, though it was about as crushing as the scene with Perrin.

Mat felt something flicker and die inside him. He did not know what. Something. The dice rolled like thunder. “Shoot,” he said.

He wanted to close his eyes. The crossbow snapped; the bolt made a black streak through the air. Renna slammed forward when it hit her back. She had almost managed to push herself erect against the bay’s neck when Harnan’s arrow took her.

Slowly, she toppled from the horse, sliding down the slope, rolling, bouncing off saplings, tumbling faster and faster until she splashed into the stream. For a moment, she floated facedown against the bank, and then the current caught her and pulled her away, skirts billowing up on the water. Slowly she drifted toward the Eldar. Maybe, eventually, she would reach the sea. And that made three. It hardly seemed to matter that the dice had stopped. That made three. Never again, he thought as Renna floated out of sight around a bend. If I die for it, never again.

Chapter 29, Something Flickers

Yet, we do have a small bit of relief for Mat here. Tuon’s response is to “forbid” Mat from morning a traitor. A traitor twice over: once against the Empire and again against Mat. “‘What you did was justice, and I name it so.’ Her tone said that if she named a thing, then it was well and truly named.” This is actually rather sweet, I think. I don’t think that she succeeded in removing that name from Mat’s list, but she tried. Mat, himself, didn’t fire the arrows to kill Renna, he merely ordered them. If Tuon takes responsibility for the order, then, in a sense, it’s as though Mat’s responsibility was removed altogether.

I mean, I’m not really sure how I feel about calling the Nuremberg Defense “sweet,” but for Tuon, I think it counts.

Elayne, Aviendha, and Rand

Alright, this is getting kind of long, and I already covered the most significant moments of character trial, but I do want to briefly mention a few others.

I already mentioned Elayne’s difficulty in the siege at Caemlyn, but thus far, I don’t think that this has really tested her as a character. It’s demonstrated how amazing Elayne’s education and instincts as a politician and Queen are, which I did enjoy, but so far things have mostly gone according to script for a contested succession in Andor.

I do worry that her plan to let everyone think that Mellar is the father of her children might be a bad idea. I get that she wants to protect them from being targeted as Rand’s children, but it really seems like everyone who knows Mellar knows that he’s a bit of a creep. Of course, she can’t know that Mellar plans to betray and rape her, which will be much easier if everyone is prepared to believe that they’re just on a tryst, but it still seems like what she does know about him would reflect poorly on her reputation. But, I think we’ll see more interesting developments for Elayne’s character in the future.

Aviendha doesn’t get a lot of time this book, but we do get to briefly see that she’s continuing to struggle with bridging the gap between the Aiel and Rand. She seems to be growing more accustomed to fancy dress, but the moment she starts feeling comfortable, she’s told that she’s growing too comfortable and needs to start spending more time with the Aiel.

Side note, she’s not the only character who’s started to grow comfortable in fancy clothes. Nynaeve and Mat have also developed a serious taste for expensive clothing. I’m not sure how much Rand actually likes fancy clothes, but he’s also come to see them as proper for himself, and no longer makes any effort to avoid them. In Min’s case, I think it’s more about the effect they have on Rand, but still. I think the only character who’s really retained their disliking for fancy clothes is Perrin.. and he’ll probably just let Faile dress him for the rest of his life if he ever gets her back.

We didn’t get to see much of Rand this book, but in the short scene we have, we finally see him start to turn his attention towards the Black Tower. I guess late is better than never. I did find it interesting that he was upset with Logain for bonding the Aes Sedai. This is actually a notable change for Rand. When he first broke free from the box, he was ready to subjugate the Aes Sedai. It seems that his dealing with Cadsuane has successfully softened him here, at least to the point where he begrudgingly accepts that he needs the Aes Sedai.

There’s a good parallel with Egwene here. I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again: Egwene and Rand are very similar people. Rand doesn’t trust the Aes Sedai and Egwene doesn’t trust the Asha’man, but they’re both horrified at the thought of Compelling them. I’m actually really curious if Rand’s going to learn that Egwene was taken by Elaida. Rand and Egwene haven’t really talked in a long time now, and we know that Egwene doesn’t have much trust left for Rand given the rumors she’s heard, but they still care for each other. I could imagine Rand stepping in to help Egwene if he learns what’s happening (though this would probably be terrible for Egwene, politically.) Gawyn will want to help too, of course. Maybe he’ll finally grow a spine!

Revelation 6

That covers the bulk of what I wanted to talk about today, but I have just a few final points to make before we wrap things up.

Everything that happened in So Habor was just fascinating. In universe, this seems like a continuation of what Shai’tan started when he touched the weather. With the seasons returned to normal, he’s moved on to fostering weevils. In case the bit in So Habor wasn’t sufficient, note that Egwene’s stores are also spoiling, and that’s despite the Keeping they weave around each barrel. This is definitely a supernatural occurrence. Even the oil is spoiled in So Habor.

It’s not hard to see the inspiration for this. I haven’t actually talked about the Apocalypse of John yet, have I? I probably should have. I mean, it’s about as relevant to what’s going on in The Wheel of Time as The Karaethon Cycle. I’m specifically talking about chapter six, you know, when the seven seals are opened; the world is beset by conquest, war, famine, and death; and those slain for the word of God are given white robes and told to rest for a season.

As much fun as I’d have reading it out here, you’ve probably heard it before, so I’ll restrain myself. The point is, the first horseman has a bow and a crown and brings conquest. The second has a sword and takes peace from the world. The third holds a scale and declares: “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Well, it’s a “penny” in the King James Version. The point is that it’s relatively expensive for a common person. The fourth is death, carrying Hell with him, and he ravages the earth with sword, hunger, pestilence, and wild beasts.

There are both deep and superficial similarities here. The “white robes” and season of rest, for example, seems like a superficial similarity with the surge of new gai’shain and Novices. Conquest, on the other hand, is more deeply rooted in the Seanchan’s return and in Rand’s attempt to unify the countries. War is, of course, a natural result of conquest, but I think we can actually give some extra credit to Masema here, as he brings war indiscriminately.

But, it’s our third horseman that’s got me talking about this today, as the scene in So Habor feels like a very specific reference. Shai’tan first began famine when he touched the weather, but now we’re seeing a plague of weevils and spoilage. Notably, whereas the third horseman spares the oil and wine, Shai’tan doesn’t even allow for that. Though, I’m reasonably sure that the point of sparing oil and wine is either about leaving ritual goods or luxury goods untouched, while the oil we’re looking for in So Habor is for lanterns.

Anyways, I might do a deeper exegesis into the influence of the Book of Revelation on The Wheel of Time when I’m done with the series. Or, honestly, I’d be pretty surprised if this isn’t already a dedicated chapter in one of the companion books, so I’ll hold off on doing a deep dive on this in case someone already has. But, if you’re reading along with me, I strongly recommend reading through Revelation. If you do, I’d recommend the King James Version, as we’re more focused on literary impact than on picking the most accessible translation.

Seriously, go read it. I mean, I’m pretty sure that “Tarmon Gai’don” is just how they pronounce “Armageddon.” There’s a dragon and a horn. Robert Jordan wasn’t subtle about his inspiration here.

Cadsuane

Alright, I’m just about done here, but even though we didn’t see much from Cadsuane in this book, I still haven’t really talked about her yet, so I want to at the very least mention the stuff I said in a comment thread after the last video. She’s a fantastic character, but she never quite fits into the points I’m trying to make. So, here’s what I think of her right now.

To some extent, Cadsuane is just more Aes Sedai than most of the Aes Sedai we meet. She has the same arrogance that the Aes Sedai consider to be a virtue, but she’s not childish or short-sighted about it, as most of the other Aes Sedai are. She has rules, even for herself, but she has the wisdom to know when to bend or break them, which many other Aes Sedai lack. She reminds me a lot of the person Egwene’s grown into (though I actually think that Egwene will probably wind up a fair bit better than Cadsuane by the end of the series.)

I thought Cadsuane’s appraisal of Nynaeve was absolutely hilarious. “A frivolous girl, full of passions, who only rarely demonstrated that she had a brain.” Yet, she clearly also sees some real potential in Nynaeve. This isn’t far off from my own appraisal.

Cadsuane’s reading of Rand and the way she manipulates him is extremely risky, and she comes very close to pushing him too far… but I don’t think that anything less would have worked. She was right: she couldn’t force him to do as she says, but she could manipulate him into chasing her. For all their supposed talent as manipulators, we don’t really see the other Aes Sedai succeed in anything like this very often. What’s more, we see enough of her reasoning for this manipulation to feel “real” to me. I get the impression that she spent a lot of time off-screen considering the best way to approach Rand. I don’t think she approaches all men like this, I think that she analyzed what she could learn of Rand and then took a calculated risk.

She reminds me a lot of Moiraine, but much more experienced.

Stepping back to look at Cadsuane as a character, what sticks out most to me is that she fills a very common trope: the old crone who guides the hero. But, what I really like about her is that Robert Jordan managed to shove a bunch of agency into a role that traditionally has almost none. She isn’t just sitting around a bubbling cauldron, maybe with a couple of sisters, waiting for a protagonist to seek her out: she’s the one who seeks out Rand.

What’s more, she bring a lot of heroic attitude to the role. Often, the wise woman or crone only helps the hero in exchange for some favor, sometimes in an attempt to trick him. At best, she helps out of a sense of duty. Not so for Cadsuane! She’s very clear about her motivation: she likes the challenge. She heard that there was an impossible task and it took her right out of retirement. I’d generally associate “enjoying the challenge” as a motivation for heroes and protagonists, not for side characters. I can’t even think of another character who fits this role while being as badass as Cadsuane. Maybe Kreia, from KOTOR II, but that’s not really the same thing.

Am I saying that Cadsuane is a powerful feminist character?

Yeah, a little bit. I mean, her story revolves around a man, but only incidentally. I dunno – she’s pretty great. I’ll probably talk more about her in the future, but I wanted to at least give her a couple of minutes since I haven’t gotten around to her yet.

Outro

Alright, I think that about wraps things up. As usual, there’s definitely more I could say.

Like, I just have to mention Aviendha saying “I think you two will make each other melt, one day, but then, you already played that joke, Birgitte Trahelion.” And everyone’s always saying that they don’t understand Aiel humor.

I absolutely loved the description of the manor in chapter 23. “The sitting room was large but not ornate, like the manor house itself, with cornices of carved wood, painted red. The furniture was bright with paint but not a touch of gilding, the two long fireplaces plain stone if well made, the andirons sturdy wrought metal made for long service rather than appearances.” Very cozy – sort of antiquarian.

But, I really should wrap this up so I can get started on our next book: New Spring. Yeah, part of me really wants to jump right to Knife of Dreams, but given that New Spring is next in publish order and it’s just about spring in the books, I think this is the right time. New Spring is quite a bit shorter than the other books, so I imagine that I’ll have it out a bit quicker than usual, but it’s hard to say. Actually reading the book isn’t really the long part here, it’s typing up the script, recording it, and editing the video. Regardless, the quicker I wrap this one up, the sooner I can get started on New Spring.