The Wheel of Time: Book Twelve, The Gathering Storm

Hello everyone – I’m Luke, and today we’re talking about The Gathering Storm: book twelve of The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan and, as of this book, also by Brandon Sanderson. The Gathering Storm is the first volume of the last entry in the series, so today we’re going to see more closure and payoff than we have anywhere else in the series thus far. I’m really excited to get into it!

As always, I want to warn everyone that I’m about to thoroughly spoil this book. The Wheel of Time is a fantastic series and I really recommend reading it for yourself before looking up any spoilers. I haven’t read past The Gathering Storm yet, so I won’t spoil anything from the last two books, but anything else in the series is fair, including New Spring. Please continue to keep spoilers from books later in the series out of the comments too. I’m really happy that nobody has posted any spoilers yet: we’re almost at the end, so just keep it up for today’s video and the next one, then you can go all-out when we talk about A Memory of Light.

Before we get into the summary, I also want to mention that my schedule has been just crazy since the last book. As I type these words in the script, it’s December 26th, and I’m actually just doing a final edit pass and adding in some details; I wrote the bulk of the script about a week ago. At this point, I actually have no idea when I’ll get things recorded and uploaded to YouTube, as my wife and I bought our first house a couple of weeks ago, and now everything is crazy. We’re working with contractors to get the carpets replaced with oak, replacing the water heater, fixing some spots on the roof, and a hundred other things I can’t even remember right now.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really excited to finally own a house! I’ve been living in apartments since I first moved out when I was 19, so this is pretty cool, but just… damn. When I bought the microphone I use to record this, I spent a couple of days looking at reviews and talking to friends into streaming and video production, and it was only a couple hundred bucks. I repair my clothes when I can – I’ve mended tears in some of the shirts I’ve worn in these videos using the sewing kit I have on my desk. My wife had to talk me down from just installing the floors myself when I saw how much it costs.

Anyways, this isn’t a blog and you’re not here to hear me talk about where I live or how much it costs. My point is just that my schedule is kind of crazy at the moment. I’m hoping to get this recorded tomorrow and then find time to edit it over the next few days to get it uploaded by New Years, but we’ll see how things go. If I do get this video out in the next few days, then expect a delay before the next video, maybe five or six weeks as opposed to the normal three or four, as I’ll lose a lot of time supervising contractors, moving, and painting. If this video winds up being delayed until after New Years then it probably won’t be too long. I’ll post an update on YouTube if things get delayed by more than a couple of weeks, but it shouldn’t be that bad. I absolutely refuse to skimp on quality now that I feel like I’ve finally more-or-less figured out how to do this; I’d rather be a couple of weeks late than to have a short or low-quality entry, particularly given that we’re in the last few books.

On the positive side, I’ll probably have a more interesting stage for the next video! Maybe I’ll shoot in front of our fireplace before it gets too warm for that.

Summary

Alright, let’s move on to the summary. Now, I said that the summary last time was massive… but it’s even longer this time. We’re in the last few books of the series, so I suppose that this shouldn’t really come as a surprise. I’ll have chapters set below so you can easily skip part or all of the summary if you’d like. I hope that anyone who wants a summary finds this useful, but what I’m really excited to talk about is the analysis afterwards, so I’m going to race through this as fast as I can.

• Everyone
  • Shai’tan’s touch on the world grows ever stronger. Even the wind that is “a” beginning but not “the” beginning in the first chapter is interrupted by an unnatural current that blows against it. Multiple perspectives note a storm of black and silver clouds with thunderless lightning. The storm doesn’t seem to exist in a specific location, sometimes shifting by miles and miles in the time it takes to look away for a brief moment. Spontaneous combustion and people erupting into beetles kill, seemingly at random. The entire shipment of food for Bandar Eban spoils in mere moments. Sanderson’s foreward explains that this is the first volume of the last book and it shows: the first arrows of the Last Battle may not yet have been fired but we’re far past worrying about convincing the common people that the end is nigh, as most people are now aware that Tarmon Gai’don is coming and even common farmers are preparing for the fight.
  • The skies are overacast for weeks on end. The intensity of the gloom is correlated with Rand’s own mood.
• The Seanchan
  • Falendre, senior sul’dam among the group Rand sent back to Ebou Dar from Semirhage’s ambush, arrives with Rand’s message, but she delays in telling it.
  • Lieutenant-General Tylee, who was a Banner-General when fighting alongside Perrin against the Shaido, is ambushed by Trollocs near Ebou Dar. Recall that the Seanchan, including Tuon herself, believed Trollocs to be a myth. Tylee survives, bringing a bag of Trolloc heads back with her. The Seanchan now know better, though they likely don’t know that the Trollocs can use the Ways to travel long distances without being detected.
  • Tuon is not yet Empress, but she has taken command of the Seanchan this side of the Aryth Ocean. She makes Selucia her Truthspeaker and meets with Beslan to win his loyalty by arguing that working with the Seanchan is best for Ebou Dar. Beslan swears fealty to her.
  • Tuon is about to order a massive raid on Tar Valon when she’s interrupted by Tylee, bringing news and proof of the Trolloc attack. Tylee recommends trying to ally with the Dragon Reborn, and as the Seanchan believe that Rand and the Aes Sedai are allies, this means meeting with Rand before making any attack on the White Tower. Tuon agrees.
  • Tuon meets with Rand, a scene I’ll describe in greater detail in Rand’s section, but in brief, Rand tries to force Tuon to ally with him and she refuses, maintaining that Rand must bow to her, not the other way around. Rand leaves without forming an alliance and Tuon declares herself Empress, taking the name “Fortuona.” Seeing how terrifying and powerful Rand is, she orders the raid on Tar Valon: the goal is to steal as many marath’damane as possible, but they’re also sending Bloodknives: suicide soldiers who are magically enhanced to deal as much damage as possible before dying. Fortuona expects that this will turn Rand against the Seanchan but goes through with the attack anyways.
  • I’ll talk more about the Seanchan attack on the White Tower in Egwene’s section, but although the attack is costly for the Seanchan, they do take nearly forty prisoners, including Elaida. Recally that Aes Sedai are still held by the oaths as damane, so they aren’t much good in combat, but some of this group know Traveling, so the Seanchan will likely have Traveling shortly.
• Mat
  • Mat is still traveling with the Band. We first see him about a week after sending Tuon back to Ebou Dar. He has about seven thousand men with him, but recall that this isn’t the entire band, just the portion that was under Talmanes’ command. Mat’s traveling towards Caemlyn, which is a couple of weeks away for the army but only about a week for a small group. Mat’s worried about finding enough supplies for the army, as they’re not willing to steal or coerce anyone into selling.
  • Mat, Thom, Talmanes, the Aes Sedai, and a few soldiers and Warders head into the village of Hinderstap for some drinking, gambling, and – more importantly – purchasing of supplies for the Band. Strangely, the town has a strict curfew: they cannot stay past nightfall. The village is reluctant to sell Mat anything, but Mat needs food for his soldiers so he hustles them by intentionally losing several dice throws, then winning the throw for the supplies. Though the mayor desperately tries to get them to leave before the curfew, they stay just a bit too late, discovering why Hinderstap has a curfew: at nightfall, every resident of the village goes mad, attacking and killing anyone they can. Mat’s group barely escapes with their lives, leaving both the supplies and the gold in the chaos but managing to rescue two women, tied to prevent them from harming anyone. At first light, the two rescued women vanish and Mat returns to the village to find that none of the villagers are dead and they’re going about the work of repairing the damage done to the town. This happens every night: the village goes mad, but in the morning everyone awakens in bed as though it were just a nightmare. Anyone killed in the village is bound to it, awaking in a random empty bed. Some wanted the Aes Sedai to stay and help, but the mayor just wants the village left alone. He gives Mat his gold and supplies; Mat leaves behind coin to pay for the food. The mayor also tells Mat that someone has been looking for him, sending out pictures. This person is staying at The Shaken Fist in Trustair.
  • Aludra has completed her designs for the dragons and dragon eggs. She’ll need a great amount of materials, such as all of the copper and tin this side of the Spine of the World. She gives Mat the plans: he’ll need to work with Rand to get the materials.
  • Mat prepares an elaborate plan, involving convoluted backstories for each part, to infiltrate Trustair and find the person looking for him. Before he can enact the plan, he learns that Verin is in his camp. She was the one distributing the pictures, though she cryptically mentions that it was against her will. Verin explains to Mat that, if not for Rand, he would be by-far the most powerful ta’veren in centuries: Verin was literally trapped in Trustair, waiting for Mat. Every time she tried to leave some bizarre thing would prevent her. She never even intended to Travel to Trustair; she skimmed there by mistake. Verin explains that the pictures of Mat and Perrin are being distributed by Darkfriends and they’re both in grave danger. She also mentions that Mat will be essential before the end. Verin is willing to Travel Mat and the Band immediately to Caemlyn, but Mat must take a sealed envelope, wait ten days, then open it and do what it says. He doesn’t want to, so she says that he can choose to either open it and do what it says in ten days or he can just stay in Caemlyn for thirty days after arriving. Verin plans to return and take the envelope back if she can, but she’s not sure whether she’ll be able get back in time to do whatever it is that she needs doing. Mat notes that she has several sealed envelopes like this.
  • We don’t see any more of Mat’s perspective this book, but we see from Rand’s perspective that he makes it to Caemlyn.
• The Forsaken
  • Moridin has claimed a fortress within the north-eastern Blight.
  • Demandred, Mesaana, and Semirhage have formed a temporary alliance. Graendal is aware of it. Graendal herself has been associating with Aran’gar. Graendal notes that she knows what all the Chosen are doing except Demandred.
  • Moridin’s connection with Rand extends, at least in part, to their injuries. He still has his left hand, but it pains him. This explains some, if not all, of Moridin’s anger at Semirhage for attacking Rand. He leaves Semirhage in captivity for some time as a punishment.
  • Mesaana plans to give the White Tower in its entirety to Shai’tan. As we’ll see when talking about Egwene in a bit, things don’t seem to go Mesaana’s way. Egwene kills most of the Black Ajah in the rebel camp while most of the Black Ajah in the Tower flee and their names are known to the Aes Sedai, thanks to Verin.
  • Moridin commands Graendal to torment Rand. She isn’t allowed to kill him, but “he must know frustration, and he must know anguish.”
  • Rand kills Graendal with balefire.
• Rodel Ituralde
  • Ituralde’s campaign against the Seanchan in the west continues to go well for him. At the city of Darluna, Ituralde ambushes the Seanchan and defeats them at the city’s gates. He bitterly notes that historians will concisely summarize the battle just as we must here: defender stood with fifty thousand casualties (half of the total), aggressor fell with one hundred and fifty thousand casualties. The Seanchan also lost many damane and a General, Turan, who was mortally wounded in the battle. Despite this startling victory, Ituralde knows that the Seanchan’s numbers are simply too great for any chance of winning the war. The Seanchan’s response to this defeat will be overwhelming, but Ituralde will continue regardless, noting that their children will know that their fathers resisted, which will be important for rebellion in the future.
  • Two weeks after his victory at Darluna, the new Seanchan general focusing on Arad Doman is marshalling over three hundred thousand men and about two hundred damane. Ituralde knows that they’re doomed and sees no way to avoid a crushing defeat. His forces are camped in a stedding to negate the damane, but this won’t be nearly enough. Then, Rand walks into Ituralde’s camp, announcing “I am Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn. I need you. You and your army.” Rand explains that Alsalam is either dead or a puppet of Graendal and that Ituralde, as a great general with an army already assembled, would be of better use in the Last Battle. Rand asks what Ituralde could do with one hundred men who can channel. Ituralde finds himself believing Rand, as his demeaner is awe-inspiring. More importantly, gateways could save Ituralde’s forces from the impending defeat. Ituralde agrees and enters Rand’s service.
• Perrin and Faile
  • Faile kills Masema and keeps this hidden from Perrin. “Sometimes, a wife must do what her husband cannot.”
  • Though Faile is now safe, Perrin is still anxious and he’s worried that things might not go back to how they used to be. He recalls a time when his father promised him a special gift for Winternight. When he finally received the gift, he was excited for a moment, but then became shockingly melancholic, not because of the gift, but because he lost the thing he’d been striving for. “He was glad to have Faile back. He rejoiced. And yet, now what was there for him?”
  • Perrin is also anxious that he isn’t a good leader and that he once again lost himself in the thrill of combat at Malden. Tam talks with Perrin. The Two Rivers men wonder whether Perrin was serious when he said that he would abandon Manetheran. Perrin states that he doesn’t want to be a king or a lord and he doesn’t want the wolf banner. Tam explains that the men – himself included – believe in that banner and take pride in it. Most of them are prepared to follow Perrin to Shayol Ghul and they don’t want to be left behind when Perrin goes to the Last Battle. Perrin isn’t sure what to do, but he does know that Rand needs him and that Rand’s need must be his focus now.
  • Perrin learns from Hopper that the wolves believe “If Shadowkiller falls to the storm, all will sleep forever. If he lives, then we will hunt together.” This seems to imply that in the wolves’ version of the prophecies, Rand’s survival is necessary for victory.
  • Faile and Perrin talk a little about what happened. They each privately wonder whether and how they’ll get back to normal, or whether that’s even desirable. Faile feels that Malden taught her what it truly was to be a noblewoman. When Perrin falls asleep, Faile sneaks out to meet with Arrela, Lacile, and Alliandre so they can have a funeral for the Mera’din that protected them in Malden. Faile keeps a turquoise stone that belonged to Rolan for remembrance.
• Egwene
  • When we first see Egwene she’s being beaten by Silviana – the Mistress of Novices – yet again. Egwene has become very good at taking the beatings quietly.
  • Egwene is summoned to attend to Elaida at dinner. Elaida torments Meidani and casually discusses a plan to add a fourth oath: one of obedience to the Amyrlin Seat. Egwene is so enraged that she chooses to spill a bowl of soup to prevent herself from yelling at Elaida. At seeing Elaida’s incompetence and the inaction of the Ajahs, Egwene realizes that her war with Elaida is meaningless in itself, as Elaida is undermining herself without any help. Egwene decides that her duty, as Amyrlin, isn’t to speed Elaida’s fall but to hold the Tower together. Her goal isn’t destroying Elaida or defeating the Tower, but reforging the Aes Sedai. The next time Egwene is beaten by Silviana, she laughs at the absurdity of it all. Next to the pain and frustration of watching the Tower crumble, mere physical pain is ridiculous. Like the Aiel, Egwene has learned to laugh at torture. “It’s not strength that makes me laugh. It’s understanding.”
  • Meanwhile, Gawyn is still with the Younglings and he’s been coordinating raids on Bryne’s forces, using his time as Bryne’s student to orchestrate effective attacks despite his inferior numbers. Gawyn is conflicted, feeling guilty for killing Hammar and Coulin and seeing the futility of his raids in the larger conflict: Elaida clearly doesn’t care about the Younglings at all, and yet they continue to serve her faithfully. He notes that his initial decision to side with Elaida came from a moment of passion and he’s no longer certain that he made the right choice, yet none of the other men have expressed any similar feelings. “[Egwene] had chosen a side. Hammar had chosen a side. Gareth Bryne had, apparently, chosen a side. But Gawyn continued to want to be on both sides. The division was ripping him apart.”
  • A bubble of evil nearly kills both Egwene and Leane, melting the stone and iron of Leane’s cell. The two narrowly escape. Upon returning to her room, Egwene finds that half of the Brown quarters have been swapped with the novice quarters. Shai’tan’s touch on the White Tower is growing stronger.
  • In the rebel camp, Siuan notes that Lelaine is winning the contest with Romanda and is clearly setting herself up to be the new Amyrlin. Seeming to echo Rand’s comment on authority bringing a restriction of freedom, Siuan finds her newfound weakness among the Aes Sedai to be “liberating.”
  • Siuan finally tells Bryne why she broke her oath, going on to explain her decades-long quest to find and guide the Dragon Reborn. She broke that oath because a more important oath too precedence, and she always planned to return and set things right: she just didn’t specify when she would fulfill it. Satisfied, Bryne is prepared to release her from his service, but Siuan refuses. Siuan notes, privately, that when her oaths no longer have a hold over her, she will have time to pursue entanglements with other people, such as Bryne.
  • Egwene is invited to meetings with Bennae, then Nagora, then Suana. The Aes Sedai ask Egwene for advice and it seems that it’s not merely as a test but also because they’re sincerely interested in Egwene’s stance. Moreover, they try to recruit Egwene into their Ajahs. This shows that while they don’t acknowledge her as Amyrlin, but they are coming to accept her as an Aes Sedai. Egwene’s focus in the meetings pivots from eroding Elaida’s authority to bringing unity to the Tower, recommending cooperation between the Ajahs.
  • Egwene meets with Meidani and informs her that she’s still Amyrlin as she’s only been captured but not overthrown. Recall that Meidani was forced to take the fourth oath by the hunters for the Black Ajah: when Egwene asks her why she hasn’t fled the Tower, Meidani is prevented from responding. The best she can do is to sneak Egwene – via Traveling – into a meeting with the hunters. There, Egwene immediately starts trying to seize control… and it actually kind of works. Most significantly, Egwene is able to prove that Siuan was deposed and Elaida raised unlawfully, as the vote succeeded with the minimum number of votes and at least one of the Sitters who voted in favor of the coup was found to be Black Ajah. Egwene commends the hunters for finding some of the Black Ajah, but charges them with pivoting towards a focus on building unity between the Ajahs. After seeing how Egwene handled the hunters, and hearing Egwene say that Silviana – the Mistress of Novices who beats Egwene several times per day – is one of the only people in the Tower with their head on right, Meidani comes to recognize that Egwene truly is the rightful Amyrlin.
  • After an impressive display in beating two Warders in a swordfight, one of the defeated Warders asks Gawyn if he’d like to be a Warder for his Aes Sedai. Gawyn continues to struggle with which side he wants to be on. Gawyn is frustrated that the Aes Sedai don’t share their plans with him, forcing him to eavesdrop if he wants to learn what will happen to him and the Younglings. He reflects on his choice to support Elaida: the only reason he sided with her was because he thought that would be better for Elayne and Egwene, as he knew that Siuan had them fighting the Black Ajah. Alright, in fairness, nobody’s kept Gawyn up to date, so he didn’t have any way to know how stupid that was. While thinking on this, Gawyn overhears that Egwene was captured as the rebel Amyrlin. Believing that Egwene is merely being manipulated by the rebels and now held hostage by the Tower, Gawyn laments that both Siuan and Elaida – even the Aes Sedai as a whole – just use everyone around them. Gawyn finally abandons the Younglings, heading toward the rebel camp so he can get help in saving Egwene.
  • Egwene meets with Ferane, Miyasi, and Tesan, all of the White Ajah. They ask her how she would handle the Dragon Reborn in Elaida’s place. Egwene explains the same thing Moiraine and Siuan figured out a long time ago: Rand needs the freedom to achieve his destiny. “Wreaking havoc and bringing armies to his banner” is exactly what he’s supposed to do. What he does not need is to be put in a literal box and beaten by the women who should be his strongest allies. Moreover, the Aes Sedai cannot hope to be of any good to the world until the Tower is reunited. Once again, Egwene urges cooperation between the Ajahs, letting on that she’s been actively pursuing this mission and isn’t the prisoner that some people think she is. You know, “I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in here with me.” Once again, rather than being punished, the Whites are impressed with Egwene’s logic and try to recruit her into the White Ajah.
  • Elaida’s keeper vanished mysteriously so Elaida has been relying on Katerine lately. Recall that we’ve known that Katerine is Black Ajah since Lord of Chaos. Katerine informs Egwene that her instruction is over: from now on, she’ll spend all of her time on chores, with no opportunity to meet with any Aes Sedai other than her Red Ajah handlers. Laras – the Mistress of the Kitchens – is disgusted by Egwene’s treatment and offers to help her escape. Despite the bleakness of her situation, Egwene refuses. “Someone has to fight her.”
  • That night, Egwene attends Elaida at dinner again. This time, a Sitter from each Ajah (save Red and Blue) is in attendance. Egwene realizes that this meeting isn’t about working with the Ajahs, it’s just a chance for Elaida to flaunt her power in front of them at once. The topic of the Seanchan comes up and Elaida commands Egwene to tell her guests that she’s been lying about the Seanchan threat. In one of the coolest moments in the series, Egwene doesn’t give in. Egwene calls Elaida out for needing to resort to violence to make her kneel, when the Amyrlin should be able to claim authority without channeling. She outs Elaida’s plans to create a fourth oath of obedience to the Amyrlin. Egwene quotes the first Brown Amyrlin to explain that the Amyrlin is the servant of all; the Brown sitter recognizes the quote but Elaida does not. Egwene quotes The Karaethon Cycle to explain the foolishness – the poor logic – of kidnapping Rand before he fulfilled the prophecies. Egwene reminds the room that the rebels discovered a way to Heal stilling and are at least making an attempt to heal the Tower. Finally, Egwene states “You are a coward and a tyrant. I’d name you Darkfriend as well, but I suspect the Dark One would perhaps be embarrassed to associate with you.” At this, Elaida beats Egwene savagely with the Power. When the Sitters point out that this is illegal, Elaida says “I am Tower law!” Through the beating, Egwene simply stands, calmly. Finally, Elaida claims that Egwene is a Darkfriend and has her sent to the worst cell in the Tower’s dungeon to await execution.
  • The rebels learn that Elaida has gained Traveling, the rebel’s key military advantage. This may also mean that either Egwene or Leane broke to questioning. Sharina, the very old novice, warns Siuan that Lelaine let the news spread intentionally, as she clearly means to usurp Egwene.
  • Gawyn arrives in the rebel camp. He starts a fight to expedite meeting with Bryne, then threatens Bryne before finally being put in his place by the older and substantially wiser man: “I should listen because you’ll kill me if I don’t? I thought I taught you far better than that.” Bryne realizes that Gawyn was leading the raids against him. Bryne also explains to Gawyn that Morgase betrayed Andor with Gaebril and that Rand actually saved Andor. Bryne doesn’t know whether Rand killed Morgase, but he asserts that even if Rand did, it was still what was best for Andor and for Elayne. While in the camp, Gawyn notices someone with an Aes Sedai’s face working among the camp followers and they discover that it’s Shemerin, the one Elaida stripped of her shawl. They bring her to the Aes Sedai. Seeing Shemerin’s poor state furthers their disgust for Elaida, particularly for Romanda, as Shemerin was – is – Yellow. While talking, a tide of cockroaches erupts from under the tent they’re standing in.
  • We see, from Sheriam’s perspective, that she is Black Ajah – a choice she made purely as a career move. She regrets that she’s in this position now, with Tarmon Gai’don at hand. Mesaana meets Sheriam and orders her to steal all of the dream ter’angreal. She also orders Sheriam to get the rebels to stop supporting Egwene.
  • From her cell in the Tower, Egwene empathizes with Rand, wondering how much worse his experience was than her own. Like Rand, she is only let out to be beaten, a task seen as payment to the Reds guarding her. Eventually, Egwene is freed. While she was imprisoned, Silviana stood up to Elaida over Egwene’s treatment, standing before the Hall to demand Egwene’s release and that Elaida step down. Elaida ordered Silviana returned to novice white and when Silviana refused Elaida ordered her stilled and executed. Saerin tells Egwene that the Red Ajah is crumbling and Egwene responds that she doesn’t want to disband the Red Ajah and that it’s exactly this sort of thinking that she’s trying to prevent. “Elaida must be removed, but we can’t let the entire Tower collapse around us while it happens.” Egwene even tells the Reds guarding her that their time would be better spent rushing to save their Ajah.
  • When Egwene arrives in her quarters, she finds Verin there. Verin explains that she is Black Ajah and has been for quite some time. She joined out of necessity, as she was in a situation where refusing to join would have meant death. She took it upon herself to take advantage of the situation, creating a record of the Black Ajah which she has stored in a book with a cipher key and a ter’angreal that makes it invisible. Her Warder, Thomas, was a Darkfriend, but wanted a way out. The oath to Shai’tan holds “until the hour of my death.” As an Aes Sedai, getting around this oath is simple: Verin sips poisoned tea throughout the conversation. Verin commends Egwene’s work with the Aes Sedai and bestows Egwene with her life’s work. She hadn’t found every member of the Black Ajah, but she’s found most of them. As Verin dies, she tells Egwene that “Although the word Black may brand my name forever, my soul is Brown.”
  • Egwene only has time to start scanning the list of names before being interrupted, but it’s enough to see Katerine, Alviarin, Moria, and Sheriam. Meidani arrives to tell Egwene what’s going on. Egwene’s own assertion that the Red Ajah must not fall informed the decision: Elaida is still Amyrlin, but only by a hair, and she’s been formally censured by the Hall. That night, Egwene meets with Siuan to inform her of what’s happened – and to tell her that Sheriam and Moria are Black Ajah – but she’s interrupted by the Seanchan attack.
    • In the rebel camp, Siuan knows that Egwene was pulled out of the dream against her will and Bryne receives a report that there’s some sort of attack on the White Tower. Siuan decides to rescue Egwene immediately. Bryne doesn’t want to help, but Siuan is going to do it with or without him and Gawyn is ready to help as well. Bryne begrudgingly agrees, on the condition that Siuan bond him as her Warder (and a second condition that he won’t say yet.) Siuan isn’t strong enough to open a gateway by herself, so they need to sneak in through a water gate. Bryne gathers a small force of men to assist.
    • In the Tower, Egwene can barely channel at all due to forkroot she was made to take earlier, but she refuses to allow the Seanchan to take anyone. Egwene and Nicola train a group of novices how to link so Egwene can use them in a circle to channel. Her first move is to Travel to the angreal storage room and take the strongest sa’angreal in the Tower. Egwene goes about saving everyone she can but also blasting any to’raken she sees leaving out of the sky, seeing it as a mercy to anyone taken… and necessary to stop the Seanchan from claiming anyone who can Travel. Egwene even saves Adelorna, Captain-General of the Green Ajah, who defers to Egwene even though this really seems like exactly what the Green Ajah should be prepared for. Egwene teaches Adelorna, and anyone else nearby, Traveling, as Elaida already knows how and this is an emergency. Adelorna notes that Egwene could have just fled and Egwene explains: “If I left, I wouldn’t have been fleeing you, Adelorna, it would have been abandoning you.”
    • Two pockets of resistance form in the Tower: Egwene’s group and Saerin’s. Saerin’s group does what they can, but Egwene forms the real resistance, eventually drawing all of the Seanchan’s attention to her. In her white novice robes, standing at a hole in the Tower, blasting raken out of the sky, Egwene cuts a stunning presence, ironically made all the more specific because of her white novice clothing. “She’d been glorious and destructive, the Amyrlin of judgement and fury.” Yet, despite her efforts, several to’raken escape with prisoners, including one with Elaida, now Suffa the damane.
    • Siuan’s group manages to sneak into Tar Valon and make it all the way to the Tower, disguised as Tower Guard. At the Tower, they join the fight against the Seanchan. Just as Min saw several books ago, Siuan and Bryne being together keeps them alive, as Bryne notices and kills a Bloodknife just before he would have attacked Siuan and Siuan knows to check Bryne for Healing, finding that he was lethally poisoned by the Bloodknife and Healing him. They find Egwene, completely exhausted by the fighting. Despite Egwene’s wishes, they carry her back to the rebel camp, not realizing that the Tower was likely ready to appoint her Amyrlin.
  • When Egwene awakens in the rebel camp, she’s furious that Siuan ruined her chance to peacefully unify the two groups, but there’s nothing she can do about it. Egwene rushes to handle both the Black Ajah and to take advantage of the Tower’s weakness following the Seanchan attack. Meanwhile, Gawyn wants to talk about their feelings and Egwene explains to him that although Egwene the woman loves him, Egwene the Amyrlin is furious with him and doesn’t have time for this right now.
  • Back in the Tower, the Ajah heads discuss what to do now that Elaida is gone. They had wanted to secretly rule the Tower from the shadows, but they’ve recognized that this plan failed and they need to pick a strong Amyrlin to get them through this. They’re considering raising Egwene to Amyrlin.
  • Even with everything else going on, Siuan and Bryne still manage to stir up a little extra drama when Bryne tells Siuan that his second condition is marriage. He’s fine with waiting until Siuan’s duty with Tarmon Gai’don and the Dragon Reborn are complete, and she recognizes that Bryne really does understand her.
  • Before dealing with the Tower, Egwene broaches the issue of the Black Ajah with the Hall. She dramatically catches Sheriam in a lie in front of the Hall. Egwene managed to take the oath rod from the Tower and she finally takes the three oaths. With the oath rod in hand, she uses the trick she learned from the hunters of the Black Ajah within the Tower to make everyone reswear their oaths. Meanwhile, Egwene orders Bryne to prepare for the attack on Tar Valon.
  • About twenty Black Ajah manage to escape, but the rest are caught, stilled, and executed. With the Black Ajah in the camp dead and the soldiers preparing for the attack, Egwene is firmly, unequivocally Amyrlin. She rides out in crimson robes to begin the attack, but she delays as long as she can, hoping that the Tower will seek peace. Just as they’re about to attack, the Hall of the Tower emerges to announce that they’re raising Egwene to the Amyrlin Seat.
  • In the Tower, Egwene is careful to seek unity rather than victory. She orders the rebels to line up outside and prepare to offer their apologies for rebellion to the Amyrlin Seat once she’s raised. Egwene notes that there are no Red Sitters in attendance and she sends for Silviana. Egwene goes through with the ceremony, but breaks tradition by having Silviana brought to her. They think that she’s going to seek vengeance of Silviana’s beatings but Egwene launches into a speech about how much blame the Tower Sitters share for allowing this to happen. Egwene praises Silviana for being the only one to stand up to Elaida. In a demonstration of unity, Egwene makes Silviana – a Red – her Keeper. Egwene also offers her own apology for her part in the rebellion. She ends with an uplifting speech that they will not be remembered as the White Tower who turned against itself, but as the White Tower that stood strong in the face of the Shadow. “The White Tower is whole and complete. And no one – man, woman, or creation of the Shadow – will see us divided again!”
  • In the epilogue, we see Egwene sitting in her office, now Amyrlin of the unified Tower. The majority of the Black Ajah in the Tower, some sixty people, managed to escape. Nearly forty women were taken by the Seanchan. Egwene knows that Mesaana is in the Tower but doesn’t know who. Yet, looking outside, the Aes Sedai can all see light shining down on Dragonmount as a result of Rand’s channeling and they’re filled with hope. “Storms will soon come, but for now, I am here.” Egwene notes that the light is unnatural, but they have no way of knowing that it’s the result of Rand’s epiphany, which we’ll get to in just a moment.
• Rand
  • When we first see Rand in The Gathering Storm, he’s in a manor in Arad Doman waiting for Rhuarc and the Aiel to come and meet with him. The Aiel are currently in Arad Doman, securing the region at Rand’s order, but they’re confused as to what – specifically – they’re supposed to do, as the Aiel don’t understand how to bring order to the Wetlanders. Aviendha is with them, still training to be a Wise One. The Wise Ones are punishing her severely with useless work as she’s not learning something quickly enough, but she doesn’t know what she’s doing wrong.
  • Rand’s conversations with Lews Therin spill out so others can hear them more and more now. Rand is desperate to learn how Lews Therin sealed Shai’tan away. Lews Therin doesn’t tell him the method, but he does let on that the female Aes Sedai thought the plan was too reckless and didn’t go along with it. There’s a need to “touch” Shai’tan and “bridge the gap.” We’re left to wonder whether the seal would have been more effective if the women had participated, or if the result would have been the same, but with both saidar and saidin tainted. Rand still worries that he’s losing himself in Lews Therin, but he’s come to see that Lews Therin’s memories are necessary for his victory.
  • Cadsuane and the other Aes Sedai interrogate Semirhage, but Rand has forbidden torture and they don’t find any success.
  • Rand suspects that Graendal is in Arad Doman. He suspects her presence both because the chaos in the region seems like her work and because it simply makes sense that one of the Forsaken would work on Arad Doman and Rand knows that none of the other Forsaken he’s encountered have focused on this region. Rand also explains, via Lews Therin’s memories, that Graendal would be in a place that serves as a trophy without being obvious.
  • Rand learns to use his visions of Perrin and Mat as a tool to check on where they are and what they’re doing. More and more, Rand is seeing everything and everyone at his disposal as nothing more than tools to win the Last Battle. “Hopefully, Mat would return to him soon. He would need Mat and his tactical skills at Shayol Ghul.” Rand has also become comfortable with being obeyed as a king, thinking “it was right for the soldiers to obey.”
  • Flinn is now Corele’s Warder.
  • Rand meets with Harine, representing the Atha’an Miere. He is uncharacteristically rude towards her, chastising her for being too slow in delivering supplies to Bandar Eban and implying that the slowness is an intentional slight, rather than the simple reality of delivering supplies for a million people a long distance away on short notice. They make a deal to ask each other one question: Rand asks what the Atha’an Miere do to men who can channel. The answer is that they can choose whether to be marooned without supplies or step off a ship with a rock tied around them. Rand demands an immediate end to this practice as he cleansed saidin and he grows furious when she explains that some people are finding this difficult to believe. Harine holds on to her question to ask it in the future.
  • Rand confides in Flinn that he’s sometimes envious of the men in the camp and he’s come to see that the more authority you gain the less freedom you have. Rand feels as though the men in the camp could choose to flee if they wanted, but Rand is too important to have this freedom. Flinn expresses doubt that a Borderlander could simply choose to flee the conflict their entire culture is built on without destroying their own identity.
  • Nynaeve has a discussion with Daigian. Nynaeve wants to Heal Daigian’s pain at having lost Eben, not understanding that Daigian wants this pain: that it’s right. Nynaeve sees the wisdom in Daigian’s response, which causes Nynaeve to question the hierarchy of the Aes Sedai. Daigian is one of the weakest Aes Sedai, but she is very knowledgeable and wise. Nynaeve notes that there’s something wrong with a system that forces Daigian to defer to nearly any fresh Aes Sedai simply based on the difference in their power. Just discussing this is taboo, but Daigian seems to appreciate the comment, finally using Nynaeve’s name as opposed to referring to her as “child.”
  • The Aiel chiefs arrive and Rand meets with them. He is very rude to them, chastising them for taking too long and taking it for granted that the Aiel will remain loyal. Cadsuane corrects him during the meeting and Rand reigns in his behavior. The Aiel are confused as to what Rand expects from them in Arad Doman. To the Aiel, it seems as though Rand expects them to teach the entire Domani population how to behave as adults. Rand commands the Aiel to seize the members of the Council of Merchants. He believes that King Alsalam is likely held by Graendal and is thus Compelled beyond saving. Rand wants to collect the Council of Merchants so they can appoint a new king. Rand also wants the Aiel to continue bringing order by providing protection and food to the cities. Once the people hear that the Aiel are bringing safety and food, they’ll begin to willingly gather in the cities. Nynaeve notes that, despite Rand’s rudeness towards the Aiel, this is actually a good and rational plan. As for Ituralde, Rand states that he will deal with him personally (which I already summarized earlier when talking about Ituralde.)
  • A man in the camp spontaneously combusts, erupting into extreme heat that threatens the camp. Fortunately, Aviendha is nearby and channels to redirect a river to extinguish the flame. The Aes Sedai and Wise Ones both comment that Aviendha is extremely powerful and has a natural talent for understanding complex weaves. Yet, the Wise Ones insist that Aviendha is still failing to learn something, giving her additional punishments. At this point, frankly, I thought it was pretty obvious that the lesson Aviendha was failing to learn is that, to be a Wise Ones, she needs to have the confidence to stand up to the other Wise Ones… but she won’t learn this for several more chapters. Aviendha is particularly upset by her continued shame because she wants to be with Rand but she refuses to go to him “as a beggar,” wanting to restore her honor and meet Rand as an equal.
  • The Wise Ones speak with Semirhage. Sorilea manages to get a small reaction from Semirhage by speaking of her as nothing more than a human. Cadsuane notes similarities between herself and both Sorilea and Semirhage. It’s also significant to note that Cadsuane is keeping the male a’dam and the Choeden Kal access key in a warded box. Sorilea and Cadsuane agree that something needs to be done about Rand, as his attitude is becoming a real problem, “for himself most of all.”
  • Rand finds himself drawn back to the strange building that Ba’alzamon brought him to in his dreams way back in The Eye of the World. He meets Moridin there, but Moridin didn’t summon him: it seems that Rand is the one who brought on this meeting, accidentally. Rand finally recognizes that Moridin is Ishamael. With this knowledge, Rand realizes that any of the Forsaken that he kills without balefire will be reincarnated. Moridin also confides in Rand that he’s very tired andhe’s wounded from Semirhage’s attack, as the two of them are linked. He asks Rand to leave as it’s not yet time for them to fight. In this candid moment, Moridin also explains why he follows Shai’tan. The other Chosen may believe that they’ll receive eternal life, but Moridin understands that Shai’tan means to end the world completely. He sees this as inevitable: if Rand wins, then Shai’tan will just try again in the next turning. There is no way to end Shai’tan forever, he can only be stalled for a little longer. Moridin would just end it now. Rand disagrees, asserting that there is a way to kill Shai’tan forever, but Moridin only laughs at him for his ignorance.
  • Min begs Rand to open up to her and he finally does, explaining his relationship with Lews Therin. Rand asserts that he and Lews Therin are two different people and Min disagrees: they’re the same person, Lews Therin is just Rand in another life. Rand cannot entertain this thought as Lews Therin is crazy and he’s not and Lews Therin failed while Rand will not. It’s not much, but Rand does seem a bit more at ease after talking about it. Min also tells Rand that she’s pretty sure that he needs to destroy the seals on Shai’tan’s prison in order to seal him away again.
  • Cadsuane realizes that the key to breaking Semirhage is considering what would break herself. She treats Semirhage like a child, spanking her in front of an audience. She doesn’t gain any information, but this finally causes Semirhage to break her composure and obey, if only to eat on command.
  • Shaidar Haran frees Semirhage and gives her the male a’dam.
  • Rand plans to move to Bandar Eban in four days. His health continues to deteriorate: seizing saidin is even more difficult than it was before. He thinks on Tam and Min, but holds that he needs to be alone. In a moment of particularly dark thoughts, Rand even suspects Min of conspiring against him. This, finally, convinces Rand that he’s gone too far and needs to calm down. Just as it seems that Rand might be open to some positive change, Semirhage clicks the a’dam around his neck. Unlike the female a’dam, Rand can’t even move without permission, locked in his body. This brings back all the terror of being stuck in a box and Rand remembers killing himself as Lews Therin. Semirhage forces Rand to strangle Min, which is even worse than when he killed Ilyena, as at least that happened behind a haze of madness. In this moment of desperation, Rand feels a source of power not blocked by the a’dam: Shai’tan. Lews Therin would rather die than use it, but Rand cannot watch himself kill Min, so he channels the True Power to destroy the a’dam and uses balefire to destroy Semirhage and Elza. Rand moves on from being steel to being cuendillar: he tries to cut himself off from all emotion.
  • Rand teaches Narishma the weave for balefire, ignoring Cadsuane’s protest. Rand now openly references his memories of being Lews Therin “If you call me a child, Cadsuane, then what are those of you who are thousands of years my juniors?” Rand searched Cadsuane’s room to find the access key and the box where she had been storing the male a’dam. He exiles Cadsuane from his sight on pain of death. When she states that everyone knows that Rand doesn’t hurt women, he threatens to simply will her to death without even using the Power or a sword and she believes that he could do this. Out of the corner of her eye, Cadsuane sees a darkness emanating from Rand. Privately, Cadsuane knows that Rand is slipping away and she doesn’t know what to do about it.
  • Aviendha finally stands up to the Wise Ones, which is what they were trying to force by giving her ridiculous and unexplained punishments. Aviendha is sent to Rhuidean so she can become a full-fledged Wise One.
  • Rand Travels to Bandar Eban. His emotional state is worse than ever before, yet he’s finally learned that people don’t generally respond to anger as desired. His newfound deadly calm makes him far more persuasive than he was before. Rand now carries the access key with him at all times, tempted by both the power of the Choedan Kal and by Shai’tan’s power. Rand meets with Dobraine, who he had representing his interests in Arad Doman. Rand has become extremely suspicious, so he sends Dobraine to Tear to prevent him from building too much power (despite Dobraine being one of Rand’s oldest and most loyal supporters.) Despite this, Rand privately plans to offer the throne of Arad Doman to Dobraine if Alsalam can’t be found. Through this all, Rand’s primary focus now is finding Graendal and destroying her in balefire.
  • Cadsuane reflects on her time with Rand, recognizing that in many ways he really handled everything commendably. He didn’t react as she would expect a peasant suddenly given too much power: he was never selfish or petty. For the most part, he acted with uncommon wisdom, except for his habit of running off into danger. Cadsuane admits both to herself and to the Wise Ones that she has failed and she asks the Wise Ones for help with her next plan.
  • Nynaeve is now Rand’s primary advisor, and one of the only people who can still – occasionally – meet his eyes. Nynaeve informs Rand of her scheme with Lan and is horrified to find that Rand’s response is to say “his death could serve me well indeed.”
  • Rand has collected four of the Council of Merchants and at least two are dead. He needs four more to order a vote for a new king. Despite Rand’s assertion that all he can focus on is Tarmon Gai’don, he wants the king of Arad Doman to draw his legitimacy from the council. Rand could appoint a king himself, but that king would lose legitimacy the moment Rand dies, which would make Arad Doman easy prey for the Seanchan after the Last Battle, proving that Rand does care about the world beyond his struggle with Shai’tan. Still, Rand reaffirms his promise to Lews Therin: they will die soon. Rand’s even coming to look forward to it.
  • Millisair Chadmar, the council member who was in Bandar Eban before Rand, took the king’s messenger captive months earlier, but the messenger died just before Rand wanted to question him. Nynaeve sees the suspicious coincidence here and investigates the private torturers who had been holding the man (and who now hold Chadmar, by Rand’s order.) Nynaeve discovers that Chadmar has been subtly poisoned, likely with the same poison used to disguise the messenger’s death. The torturers aren’t the killers, it’s the apprentice working the dungeon’s front: Kerb. Nynaeve brings Kerb to Rand. Rand uses his threat of just willing the man’s soul to death to intimidate him, but the boy cannot say who he works for. Rand suspects Graendal’s Compulsion and orders Nynaeve to Heal it. She does and the boy is able to say the words “Natrin’s Barrow” before dying. Nynaeve is disgusted at having been used to kill a boy she thought she was Healing and she tells Rand, once again, that this hardness is going to destroy him. Rand finally explains that he’s not a fool, he can see the same thing as everyone else, but he doesn’t see why everyone assumes that there needs to be anything left in him. He tells a story he learned from Tam, that Dragonmount is so tall that no one could climb it and still have the energy to climb back down. Rand only needs to reach the top of the mountain and he can’t afford to reserve anything for the return climb. Nynaeve hates hearing this… but can’t find the words to argue with him.
  • Rand goes to meet with the Daughter of the Nine Moons. He brings the access key and holds enough of the Power to resist shielding, perhaps even by a full circle. We see the meeting from Tuon’s perspective. She notes, with disgust, the “Tsorov’ande Doon” or “Black-Souled Tempests,” which is her word for the Asha’man. Tuon is immediately struck by the weight of Rand’s words and impressed that he instantly recognizes that Selucia is her bodyguard. Tuon believs that Rand has more prophecies to fulfill: he must be blind, he must stand on his own grave and weep, and he must kneel before the Crystal Throne. Rand grants that the unity the Seanchan offer would be commendable before the Last Battle… if not for him already providing it. As it is, they must ally, at least for the short period until his death. Rand asserts that the use of a’dam must end. Rand lets on that he recognizes Tuon from his visions of Mat and she believes that he’s mad. The conversation turns a bit humorous, as both Rand and Nynaeve jump to defend Mat’s honor, but it turns dark again when Rand tries to simply will Tuon into signing a treaty with him. She sees a halo of blackness around his head and she almost gives in, feeling overwhelming pressure to do so, yet she manages to resist: “You will bow before me, Rand al’Thor. It will not happen the other way around.” Rand leaves and Tuon declares herself Empress. Having seen how powerful Rand is, she wants to launch the attack on Tar Valon immediately: “This man cannot be allowed to gain any more strength than he already has.” Tuon takes the name “Fortuona.”
  • Rand takes Min, Nynaeve, and a bumbling noble named Ramshalan with him to Natrin’s Barrow to encounter Graendal. Rand explains to them that Graendal is more clever than he is and can’t outsmart her. He sends Ramshalan into the palace, correctly predicting that he would emerge under the effect of Compulsion, as Graendal wraps everyone around her in Compulsion too deep to be healed. Rand recounts the time he killed Liah with balefire to spare her death by Mashadar: a mercy. Standing outside the palace and filled with the One Power via the Choeden Kal, Rand asks forgiveness for calling this a mercy as well, then he destroys the entire palace – and everyone inside – with balefire. The Compulsion on Ramshalan fades, proving that Graendal was burned out of the pattern. Nynaeve is so horrified that she even wishes that Moiraine was there to help. When they return, Nynaeve meets with Cadsaune and the Wise Ones. Cadsuane doesn’t bring Nynaeve fully into the plan, merely telling her that she needs to find Perrin and Rand knows where he is. Through it all, Min notes that everyone is concerned with how to “handle” Rand when they should be trying to help him. While the others fret about the damage done to the Pattern by Rand’s use of balefire, Min worries about the toll those innocent lives must be taking on Rand inside. “There were plenty of others worrying about what he would do at the Last Battle. It was her job to get him to that Last Battle alive and sane, with his soul in one piece. Somehow.”
  • Rand and Lews Therin bitterly regret what they did in Arad Doman and Lews Therin wonders, with horror, whether they’re doomed to once again kill everyone they love. Rand left every other kingdom he conquered in a better state then when he arrived, but Arad Doman is near to collapsing. Yet, Rand has no more time to spend on this, and he’s leaving. Just as he’s about to step through a gateway to Tear, a dockmaster arrives with news: literally all of the supplies Rand had sent to Bandar Eban spoiled, in mere moments. It’s not just weevils either, the food is completely destroyed, poisonous. With no answer to give, Rand steps through the portal, abandoning Arad Doman.
  • Rand’s next focus is the Borderland armies. He discusses strategy with Bashere who warns him that fighting the Last Battle with the Seanchan at their backs is a terrible position, but Rand has no answer for this. Rand informs Darlin that the Tairen forces are needed: they march on Shayol Ghul. Rand plans to Travel the armies directly to Shayol Ghul, using Lan’s stand at Tarwin’s Gap as a diversion and leaving him to die.
  • Rand goes to meet with the Borderland armies, but finds that they leave only Hurin, the thief-taker Rand traveled with back in The Great Hunt, while the armies camp within range of the guardian at Far Madding. They want Rand to meet them there, but Rand refuses. Hurin notes an evil smell he’s never encountered before, and it’s clearly coming from Rand. Nynaeve narrowly talks Rand down from channeling a firestorm – or worse – over the Borderland armies as a lesson. Instead, Rand leaves Hurin with a message: he marches on Shayol Ghul soon and he’ll gladly take them with. Otherwise, they’ll have to explain to their children why the Borderlands abandoned their oaths during the Last Battle. Rand tells Nynaeve where to find Perrin, which he vaguely knows from his visions, and Nynaeve brings this information to Cadsuane, who uses it to retrieve Tam as part of her plan to handle Rand.
  • Rand continues to rage internally, nearly at his breaking point. When he returns to his rooms, he finds Tam standing there. The two talk for a bit, and it seems to be helping Rand immensely, particularly a lesson that the reason for fighting matters even if it doesn’t change the outcome. Then, Tam accidentally mentions that Cadsuane brought him there. Rand snaps, coming within a heartbeat of destroying Tam in balefire. “He had lost control. But he didn’t care. They wanted him to feel. He would feel, then! They wanted him to laugh? He would laugh as they burned!” At the last moment, Rand realizes what he’s doing and jumps through a portal to Ebou Dar to turn his rage against the Seanchan instead.
  • Rand spends some time walking around Ebou Dar, pretending to be a normal person. He stays with the Tuatha’an, then walks the streets. He notes that, except for people who can channel, people living under the Seanchan don’t seem unhappy. Still, when Lews Therin whispers that “death is always a mercy,” Rand doesn’t think he sounds crazy. Rand seizes saidin to begin destroying Ebou Dar, but is struck violently ill. When he looks up, he sees that the people around him seem worried: “The people looked so concerned. They worried. They cared.” Once more, Rand jumps through a gateway, this time to the point of Dragonmount.
  • On top of Dragonmount, Rand spends some time in thought. He rages at the world, at the Creator, for leaving humanity to fight Shai’tan with no direction and for forcing Rand to give up his life. He rages at himself for still being too soft. He rages at the Pattern for forcing everyone to live the same lives and make the same mistakes over and over again. “Why had the Creator done this to them?” Rand comes within a hearbeat of destroying the entire world in balefire, ending the Pattern as thoroughly as Shai’tan. Then, Lews Therin answers, sounding perfectly sane: “Maybe it’s so that we can have a second chance.” “Because each time we live, we get to love again.” Rand has an epiphany, remembering thousands of lives stretching back through time and remembering all of the hope, peace, joy, and love in them. “I fight because last time, I failed. I fight because I aant to fix what I did wrong. I want to do it right this time.” He turns his power on the Choedan Kal, destroying it. “Rand opened his eyes for the first time in a very long while. He knew-somehow-that he would never again hear Lews Therin’s voice in his head. For they were not two men, and never had been.” “Finally, he let out a deep-throated laugh, true and pure. It had been far too long.”

The Oak and the Willow

Alright, if you’re here because you skipped the summary: welcome back! You’re in the right place. If you stuck with me through the summary: you made it! Grab another cup of eggnog as we move on to analysis.

Our main theme this time around is a familiar one, something we’ve been talking about for several books now: the oak and the willow, embodied by Rand and Egwene. Of course, this is really just one facet of the much larger theme of duality, in particular the duality of women and men as embodied by saidar and saidin, that makes up one of the two primary themes of the entire series. (If you’re wondering, the second theme is information – news and culture – across time and space. Though, I suppose you could consider these two themes to be the same if you consider the gap between men and women to be just another gap for information to pass between.)

But, we’re talking about The Gathering Storm today. I’ll probably make some videos covering the broad themes of the entire series after covering Memory of Light, but for today, let’s keep things focused on the book at hand.

The fable of the oak and the willow has been mentioned explicitly in The Wheel of Time for quite a while now, at least as far back as “Encounters in Samara” in The Fires of Heaven. Cadsuane mentioned it to Rand directly in “News for the Dragon” in Knife of Dreams. It’s kind of an obvious idea, really, with multiple interpretations, fables, and parables.

In Dao De Jing you can find the lesson (roughly paraphrased here): ‘We’re born supple and weak but we die hard and strong. Plants, too, are supple in youth but dry and withered with age. We can thus see that hardness and strength are associated with death while softness and weakness are associated with life. A conqueror who relies solely on their strength will fail and an unbending tree will break. The hard and strong will fail while the soft and weak will prevail.’

This version touches on age, rather than focusing solely on flexibility. We could take this as a warning against becoming too set in our ways as we gain experience. When we’re young, we’re weak and foolish, but we’re also resilient and adaptable. Perhaps this is also a warning that experiencing tragedy makes us prepared but it also makes us anxious. We could, perhaps, apply this lesson to Rand and Lews Therin.

Rand is a young man, but he’s come to rely heavily on Lews Therin’s thoughts and memories. Though Lews Therin’s experience brings Rand power, it also brings anxiety. The notion that “what does not kill us only makes us stronger” sounds neat, but is Rand any stronger or more resilient for remembering Ilyena’s death? Does Rand saying – “I have seen balefire destroy cities. I have seen thousands burned from the Pattern by its purifying flames. If you call me a child, Cadsuane, then what are those of you who are thousands of years my juniors?” – does he sound powerful, or just unhinged? Nynaeve understands this. When healing Kerb of Graendal’s Compulsion, she thinks to herself: “There was a reason the Creator allowed them to forget their past lives. No man should have to remember the failures of Lews Therin Telamon.”

Of course, the more familiar version of the oak and the willow that Jordan had in mind was definitely from Aesop (though Aesop’s version is actually about an oak and a reed), and is adequately summarized by Cadsuane: “The oak fights the wind and breaks. The willow bends where it must and survives.” What I find really interesting about this version is that there’s still room for interpretation even here. Some versions from the late 1700s and early 1800s changed the ending, for political reasons, to show that the oak fought heroically and died gloriously while the willow only survived on cowardice and a lack of integrity.

I actually think that we can see a bit of a response to this interpretation in Egwene’s thoughts, particularly on the occasions where she attends to Elaida. She knows that she must resist but if she does so foolishly then she’ll just be executed or sent to a cell without making any difference. So, when she only has Meidani in the room with her, she bends. When she has a room full of Sitters, she doesn’t. The words “where it must” are an important part of the sentence “The willow bends where it must and survives.” Nobody is saying that you can’t ever stand firm, but if you’re going to risk breaking, it should be for a worthy goal.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s talk a little more about our oak and our willow, then loop back around to talking about the lesson they illustrate.

The Willow: Egwene al’Vere

Let’s start with our willow. No, not Leane (Siuan’s former Keeper), though she’s described as “willowy” practically every time she shows up. No, we’re talking about Egwene.

Egwene has been on quite a journey throughout the series. I keep finding the need to remind myself that this is the same silly girl we met in The Eye of the World. Back when I covered A Crown of Swords, which was halfway through the series, I started off my section on Egwene with “Ah, it’s good to finally see Egwene being competent.” If you watched that video, the main theme was “balance,” and I went on to explain that Egwene’s success was driven by both her strengths and failings. Egwene’s growth didn’t come by eliminating her flaws, but by sublimating them, transforming recklessness into courage, arrogance into confidence, and pride into… well, still pride, but a mature pride that can bear humiliation when necessary. More a sense of self-worth than an impetuous aversion to authority.

I have a bunch of things to say about Egwene, but this point still stands out as the most significant to me. Egwene is not a perfectly rational machine, she’s a person.

Both Egwene and Rand murder innocent people and consider it a mercy in The Gathering Storm. Rand does it when he kills Graendal (and her servants,) Egwene does it when she kills to’raken laden with captives. In both cases, they’re debatably right. Rand’s case is a little more extreme, as he’s not merely killing the people but burning them out of the Pattern entirely, but Graendal is – was – a greater threat than a few more damane. Where they differ is in their emotions. Just before destroying Graendal’s palace, Rand gives a little speech: “I can’t kill in anger, Min. I have to keep that anger inside; I must channel it as I channel the One Power. Each death must be deliberate. Intentional.”

Egwene also has a moment of thought for her anger. “Each faceless Seanchan that Egwene struck down seemed to be Renna in her Mind’s eye.” “Her anger was not out of control. It was cold and distilled.” “She directed her anger-the anger of justice, the wrath of the Amyrlin.” Like Rand, Egwene thinks to control herself, but unlike Rand, she makes no attempt to bury the anger altogether, she merely maintains a level of control. She doesn’t abandon the novices or the Tower in a mad quest for vengeance, but neither does she try to silence the part of her that feels justice in her violence.

Egwene has learned to maintain a cool façade, but we can often see her thoughts, and her thoughts are very human: her posture only extends to her skin, beneath that she allows herself the freedom to feel and think.

Consider Egwene’s triumphant moment of defiance against Elaida at dinner, in front of the Sitters.

They could all see the weaves, and they could all see that Egwene did not scream, although her mouth was not gagged with Air. Her arms dripped blood, her body was beaten before them, and yet she found no reason to scream. Instead, she quietly blessed the Aiel Wise Ones for their wisdom.

“And what,” Egwene said evenly, “am I to be an example of, Elaida?”

The beating continued. Oh, how it hurt! Tears formed in the corners of Egwene’s eyes, but she had felt worse. Far worse. She felt it each time she thought of what this woman was doing to the institution she loved. Her true pain was not from the wounds, but from how Elaida had acted before the Sitters.

Chapter 16, In the White Tower

Egwene makes no outward sign of her pain, but inside, we know that it hurts, both physically and emotionally. Even the way she masks the physical pain is different from how Rand does it: she doesn’t force the pain into a void, she covers it with a more profound pain. She places her pain in a larger context where it isn’t overwhelming.

I’ll talk more about Rand’s side of this in a bit, but the key point to see here is that Egwene allows herself to feel the meaning in things and she never loses sight of her goals. Unlike Rand. That’s where Tam’s advice of looking for the “why” comes from: Rand does what he does because he has to – he’s fated to – but he doesn’t let himself take meaning from it and he loses sight of his goals.

Egwene makes her own goals, and she constantly reevaluates them based on what she wants. She opposes Elaida, but only to unify the Tower. As she needs to repeatedly explain to the other Aes Sedai, letting the Red Ajah crumble to save the Tower defeats the whole purpose of the rebellion. Winning a battle merely to lose the war is meaningless, that’s just basic strategy.

Egwene’s conversation with Ferane, Tesan, and Miyasi is another good example. They ask her how she would handle Rand and she gives a series of excellent answers. “‘Dealing’ with is different from ‘working’ with.” “The Dragon Reborn should not have been left to run free, but since when has the White Tower been in the business of kidnapping and forcing people to our will?” “He should have been led to trust Aes Sedai above all others, to rely on our counsel.”

But, perhaps more important than her answers to the Whites are her inner thoughts. “People were much more complex than a set of rules or numbers. There was a time for logic, true, but there was also a time for emotion.”

Egwene demonstrates an understanding here that we need to exercise judgement in when we listen to logic and when we listen to feelings. Neither is superior to the other and nobody can get the balance perfectly right, but relying solely on logic is nothing but an attempt to avoid responsibility for personal judgement. You can’t always take the time to reduce everything to statements of fact and logic before acting: sometimes you just need to make a call. Even when time isn’t an issue, logic can sometimes result in conclusions that are simply wrong and feelings are necessary to bring reason back into alignment with reality. You can’t figure out that your map is wrong without looking around you.

In The Gathering Storm, we see both Egwene and Rand subjected to pressure and we see how they respond to it. Despite Rand’s claims, he’s as much of a human as Egwene is, and they both have an emotional response to the horrors they encounter and the responsibilities foisted upon them. Egwene embraces her emotions, but applies reason to keep them in check when they burn too hot. Sometimes, that means she needs to spill a bowl of soup to avoid screaming at Elaida and sometimes it means leaning into it and becoming a living god of vengeance. Egwene relies on her heart to keep her focused on what she truly values. Not all of her emotions are virtuous and not all of her decisions are correct, but she’s always working towards a purpose she’s passionate about and she always knows why she’s doing what she’s doing. This keeps her more-or-less on track.

Rand… well, let’s talk about Rand.

The Oak: Rand al’Thor

One of the things I like most about The Wheel of Time is that we get to see Rand’s horrific fall from multiple empathetic viewpoints. Lan sees himself in Rand in that they’re both seemingly fated to die fighting the Shadow. Min loves Rand, almost unconditionally, and is frustrated that even those who would be Rand’s allies seek more to control him than to help him. Nynaeve knew Rand as a child and saw herself as his protector; she not only mourns the loss of what he was but also feels a sense of responsibility for it, first directed at Moiraine and now, in a display of growth, directed at herself for failing to take Moiraine’s place. Aviendha takes pride in Rand’s strong, stoic fatalism: “He is the Car’a’carn, as strong as the Three-fold Land itself!” Despite her cold, bullying demeaner, even Cadsuane occasionally finds time for a maternal thought for Rand, as when she hears that Rand stilled three sisters and responds not with the disgust of her associates, but with at least a mote of compassion, brushing hair from his forehead and saying: “Do not be afraid, boy. They made my task harder, and yours, but I will not hurt you more than I must.”

One of the best bits of empathy for Rand in The Gathering Storm comes from Egwene. While meeting with Siuan in Tel’aran’rhiod from the Tower dungeon, she says: “It just occurred to me. This is what it must have been like for Rand. No, worse. The stories say he was locked in a box smaller than my cell. At least I can spend part of the evenings chatting with you. He had nobody. He was without the belief that his beatings meant something.”

Egwene couldn’t possible know just how insightful this realization is for understanding Rand’s current state. In the box, in Far Madding, with the death of each Maiden, for practically everything that’s happened to Rand since leaving Emond’s Field, Rand has been made to suffer for no reason… and he just couldn’t accept that. So, he manufactured a reason. We talked about this a bit last time. Rand couldn’t accept all of this senseless pain as what it was, so he gave it a narrative purpose in his life. It wasn’t meaningless, this pain is the fire that forged his soul so he could be ready for Tarmon Gai’don. “If a sword had memory, it might be grateful to the forge fire, but never fond of it.”

While Egwene was in the Tower’s dungeon, she was able to escape to Tel’aran’rhiod to speak with Siuan. Throughout her journey, Egwene has always had friends and mentors to give her strength. When Rand was in the box, he had no one and no escape. Even outside of the box, he doesn’t really have any friends or mentors. He fears to tell even Min everything, terrified that it will push her away. We can actually see, in “A Place to Begin,” that just opening up to Min for a few sentences was enough to make Rand feel a bit better. Rand doesn’t really have any other people to draw strength from… so, he creates one, in Lews Therin.

In “Veins of Gold,” the last chapter of The Gathering Storm, Rand has a moment of epiphany where he remembers thousands of lives stretching back to infinity. I’m not actually sure how literal this is yet. Maybe, the next time we see Rand, he’ll literally remember all of his lives stretching back to the beginning of the conflict with Shai’tan. Or, maybe this was metaphorical. My guess is that he’ll still have Lews Therin’s memories, now just Rand’s own memories from a past life, but without the separate persona of Lews Therin talking to him.

I can’t really say this for sure, but my take – at this point – is that the memories of his past life are a gift from the Pattern, necessary for the Dragon Reborn to fulfill his destiny, but the voice of Lews Therin was the result of Rand’s need for someone who understands him creating an alter ego from those memories. I imagine that Mat could have done the same thing with some of the memories shoved into his head if he’d been under the same kind of stress and isolation as Rand, though his situation is different in that it seems as though his supernaturally implanted memories are not from his own past lives.

I mean, seriously, Mat has extra memories crammed in his head too. Perrin can talk to wolves. Egwene habitually learns things from dreams and Min can see visions of the future around people’s heads. Simply having access to Lews Therin’s memories really doesn’t seem all that crazy for The Wheel of Time. The crazy part is the progressive self-destructive pathology. If Hopper was constantly raving about killing everyone he ever loved and encouraging self-harm, I’d say that Perrin was having a crisis too. The supernatural element makes any real-world diagnosis a little shaky, but it sure sounds like Rand has dissociative identity disorder

I really like seeing these various perspectives on Rand, most importantly his own. We’ve been with Rand since the beginning, and we’ve seen that he really is a good person. Even Cadsuane notes this. “Al’Thor hadn’t reacted like most peasants suddenly granted power; he hadn’t grown selfish or petty. He hadn’t hoarded wealth, nor had he struck with childish vengeance against any who had slighted him in his youth. Indeed, there had actually been a wisdom to many of his decisions-the ones that didn’t involve gallivanting into danger.”

Whenever Rand feels that he has even a brief moment to spare, he uses his influence to fund schools and grant better rights to the lowest people of society. He avoids violence whenever possible and when he must fight, he always prefers to put himself in danger rather than risking anyone else. He selflessly avoids even visiting his home because he’s afraid that would just make his friends and family a target for his enemies.

Even Rand’s ruthlessness is a result of his selflessness… and a bit of arrogance. He feels that he must be willing to take responsibility for doing whatever’s necessary, even if he hates it. He’s destined to stand against Shai’tan and die at Shayol Ghul. He’s the Dragon Reborn. He’s decided that this means not only sacrificing his life but also taking on all the pain of Tarmon Gai’don personally. Can we really say that Rand has a martyr complex or that he’s overly fatalistic, given his unique situation?

I mean, yeah. Of course we can. Rand has good cause to fear that he might not survive Tarmon Gai’don, but he doesn’t know. The prophecies aren’t even clear on this: “His blood on the rocks of Shayol Ghul” certainly sounds like it means death, but it could be metaphorical. It’s not really any better for Rand, but maybe it’ll be one of Elayne’s children. Hopper mentions to Perrin “If Shadowkiller falls to the storm, all will sleep forever. If he lives, then we will hunt together,” which seems to imply that the wolves’ prophecy of Tarmon Gai’don holds that Rand must live to win. Rand doesn’t know that, but he does know that the Aelfinn said “to live, you must die.” That doesn’t sound great either, but the point is, Rand really doesn’t know. And even if he does die, that doesn’t mean that he needs to suffer in isolation. Aviendha notes that complaining practically defines wetlanders: Rand could at least complain about his situation. He’s got plenty of people who would be happy to comfort him.

People like Tam. Part of me wants to be smug about calling this in my last video.

I occasionally imagine how much better Rand might be doing if he was still in contact with Tam. We’ve seen that Perrin benefits from Elyas’s advice, but the only male role-model Rand’s had for most of the series is Lan, and Lan’s not much healthier than Rand is. Tam’s the person who taught Rand about feeding his feelings into a fire in his mind, which is pretty similar to some of the meditation stuff I mentioned before. I bet he could’ve helped Rand quite a bit – just as the Wise Ones helped Egwene.

My last video

…but, I imagine that most readers picked up on this. Robert Jordan foreshadowed this pretty well by showing how much Perrin needed a father-figure when he was struggling with similar emotions. That Perrin turned to Rand’s dad specifically almost feels too obvious, in retrospect.

The scenes with both Min and Tam were really well done, even if they were heart-wrenching to read. The scene with Min is really two scenes. First, in “A Place to Begin,” Rand finally talks openly to Min about Lews Therin. Just talking about it and feeling Min’s support seems to help. “Faith in a madman, Min? “Faith in you, sheepherder.” “He nodded, and she was surprised to feel his trust through the bond. That was a frighteningly rare emotion from him recently, but he did seem softer than he had during previous days. Still stone, but perhaps with some few cracks, willing to let her inside. It was a beginning.”

Then, in “The Last That Could Be Done,”

Min couldn’t be working with Cadsuane, could she? Rand didn’t trust Cadsuane by any measure. If she’d gotten to Min. . . .

Rand felt his heart twist. He wasn’t suspicious of Min, was he? She’d always been the one he could look to for honesty, the one who played no games with him. What would he do if he lost her? Burn me! he thought. She’s right. I’ve grown too harsh. What will become of me if I begin to grow suspicious of those that I know love me? I’ll be no better than mad Lews Therin.

“Min,” he said, softening his voice. “Maybe you’re right. Perhaps I’ve gone too far.”

She turned to look at him, relaxing. Then she stiffened, eyes widening in shock.

Something cold clicked around Rand’s neck.

The almost comically timed tragedy here is so immediate that it, frankly, stretches belief a bit, but I’ll talk more about Sanderson’s writing style later. If only Semirhage hadn’t struck at just that moment. If Rand had just a bit more time to work through that thought, maybe he would have avoided snapping at the end of the book.

Then we get the scene with Tam. His father.

You can call me son, Rand thought. You are my father. No matter what some may say. But he couldn’t force the words out.

The Dragon Reborn couldn’t have a father. A father would be a weakness to be exploited, even more than a woman like Min. Lovers were expected. But the Dragon Reborn had to be a figure of myth, a creature nearly as large as the Pattern itself. He had difficulty getting people to obey as it was. What would it do if it were known that he kept his father nearby? If it were known that the Dragon Reborn relied upon the strength of a shepherd?

The quiet voice in his heart was screaming.

The One He Lost

Simply seeing his father – that comforting reminder that he’s a person and that he once lived a normal life – helps greatly, but Tam’s also pretty wise. Side note, I loved when Tam put Cadsuane in her place. “A bully is a bully, whether she uses the strength of her arm or other means.”

But, more significantly, Tam sees right through Rand’s foolishness.

Before we get to Tam’s response, note that this conversation was actually hinted at earlier, in chapter 5, “A Tale of Blood.” Rand looks out over the people working in his camp and admits to Flinn that he’s envious of them. “Those people are more free than I.” “Those people out there, any one of them could just ride away. Escape, if they felt like it. Leave the battle to others.” Flinn responds: “I’ve known a few Saldaeans in my day, my Lord. Forgive me, but I have doubts that any one of them would do that.”

Then, when talking to Tam, Tam tries to relate – in a chuckling, fatherly way – to Rand. “‘My boy, the Dragon Reborn. All of those stories I heard when traveling the world, I’m part of them.’ ‘Think how it feels for me,’ Rand said. Tam chuckled. ‘Yes. Yes, I suppose you understand exactly what I mean, don’t you?'”

Rand’s response is the key here. “No. Not, that. My life isn’t my own. I’m a puppet for the Pattern and the prophecies, made to dance for the world before having my strings cut.”

Then, Tam does what no one else has really tried to do yet. He starts by just saying “that’s not true,” but when Rand states that he can’t see it any other way, Tam actually tries to relate with him. “A soldier doesn’t have a lot of choices for his own destiny either. More important men make all the decisions. Men, well, I guess men like you.”

They have a real argument, which is what Rand needs. He doesn’t need someone condescending to him, he needs someone to have a legitimate argument. A discussion that goes in both directions and doesn’t end with anyone simply asserting that they’re right or trying some trick.

“But my choices are made for me by the Pattern itself,” Rand said. “I have less freedom than the soldiers. You could have run, deserted. Or at least gotten out by legal means.”

“And you can’t run?” Tam asked.

“I don’t think the Pattern would let me,” Rand said. “What I do is too important. It would just force me back in line. It has done so a dozen times already.”

“And would you really want to run?” Tam asked.

Rand didn’t reply.

“I could have left those wars. But, at the same time, I couldn’t have. Not without betraying who I was. I think it’s the same for you. Does it matter if you can run, when you know that you’re not going to?”

“I’m going to die at the end of this,” Rand said. “And I have no choice.”

Tam stood up straight, frowning. In an instant, Rand felt that he was twelve years old again. “I won’t have talk like that,” Tam said. “Even if you’re the Dragon Reborn, I won’t listen to it. You always have a choice. Maybe you can’t pick where you are forced to go, but you still have a choice.”

“But how?”

Tam laid a hand on Rand’s shoulder. “The choice isn’t always about what you do, son, but why you do it. When I was a soldier, there were some men who fought simply for the money. There were others who fought for loyalty—loyalty to their comrades, or to the crown, or to whatever. The soldier who dies for money and the soldier who dies for loyalty are both dead, but there’s a difference between them. One death meant something. The other didn’t.

“I don’t know if it’s true that you’ll need to die for this all to play out. But we both know you aren’t going to run from it. Changed though you are, I can see that some things are the same. So I won’t stand any whining on the subject.”

“I wasn’t whining—” Rand began.

“I know,” Tam said. “Kings don’t whine, they deliberate.”

The One He Lost

Unfortunately, even this conversation ends poorly when Rand realizes that Tam was sent by Cadsuane, and with a script. A script that Tam ignored, but still, even when Cadsuane isn’t in the room she messes things up. I’ve talked about liking Cadsuane before, and I still do – don’t get me wrong – but she just completely screwed up handling Rand. She was marginally better than the Black Ajah, but it really is too bad that Moiraine was spirited away.

The key here is Rand’s excessive fatalism. He shouldn’t ignore fate. When you’re a messiah foretold in prophecy, it’s just practical to pay attention to prophecy and destiny, but Rand takes it too far. He still has choices. “Does it matter if you can run, when you know that you’re not going to?” “The choice isn’t always about what you do, but why you do it.”

It’s worth noting that Rand never even considers the idea of going, willingly, to Shai’tan. He could choose to do this. Nobody could stop him. It seems like Shai’tan really wants Rand to come willingly, he could probably have some conditions. Maybe save the people he cares about for a little while, before the world ends. Rand has choices. He’s not trapped by the Pattern, he’s trapped by himself; by the kind of person he is. If you want to call that the Pattern, then fine, but it’s at the very least also his choice. As much as anyone chooses anything.

I think this is a relatable problem. I often find that I don’t take any pride or sense of purpose in doing things that I “have” to do. I don’t really see it as an option to ignore my close friends and family when they need help, or to not offer a favor when I have the means to do so. Even here, I don’t really want to give any specific examples, as it would feel too much like bragging about things I really couldn’t choose not to do. But, of course, I did have a choice. Boasting or holding it over someone’s head would be bad, but there’s nothing wrong with taking pride in it or in finding a sense of purpose in it. I don’t know if it’s because I was raised Catholic, or if this is just a universal experience that we all just agree not to talk about, but it feels wrong to treat things I’m supposed to do as things I choose to do. How could I do anything else? It feels natural to consider only my failures and mistakes to be choices, a choice to deviate from what I was supposed to do.

But, that’s not reality. It’s not even ethics. It’s fatalism, and it doesn’t really matter when it comes to how individuals should view their own lives. Even if there really is no world in which Rand doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do, even if is fated, that doesn’t mean that it’s not his choice. If someone correctly predicts what you’re going to do, that doesn’t mean that you didn’t still choose to do it. We can debate the philosophy of what this means for free will and choice, but that’s true for all decisions. Maybe free will is an illusion, but even if it is, Rand has just as much of it as anyone else. Even ta’veren weirdness is divorced from choice and free will in every way that matters. “Maybe you can’t pick where you are forced to go, but you still have a choice.”

Tam really cuts right to the heart of this. Regardless of whether Rand can choose what he does, he can certainly choose why he does it; how he feels about it. Even if he is fated to suffer and die for the world, that doesn’t mean that he needs to walk to his death stoically, accepting every bit of pain as his destiny. I feel like Min’s been trying to explain this to Rand for a while now and just couldn’t find the words. Ironically, Rand trying to spare Min’s feelings is an attempt to override her freedom to sacrifice some of her own comfort for Rand.

Min’s noted before that she might not have had any choice in loving Rand, it feels like something that was done to her. Yet, she chose to embrace it. When Rand tries to spare her feelings by rejecting her love, she chooses to ignore his noble chauvinism and love him anyways.

Then, we see Rand’s crisis come to a head.

He nearly kills Tam in balefire. “He had lost control. But he didn’t care. They wanted him to feel. He would feel, then! They wanted him to laugh? He would laugh as they burned!” “What am I DOING?” Rand thought again. No more than I’ve done before, Lews Therin whispered.”

Rand moves on to Ebou Dar, planning to drive the Seanchan into the sea. He tried with Callandor before, so now he’ll do it with the Choedan Kal.

But even here, he isn’t completely gone. He spends some time walking among the people, pretending to be a regular person. He’s surprised to find that the people living under Seanchan rule aren’t all miserable. Actually, excluding people who can channel, they seem to be doing great.

Rand was trying to find evidence that the people craved death. He put Liah out of her misery, killing her with balefire to spare her Marshadar. He saw it as a mercy to burn Graendal’s slaves. Even when Rand is furious enough to break the world, he tries to sublimate his rage into mercy. Yet, he finds that the people in Ebou Dar don’t need his mercy. Not only do they not need his mercy, but they offer him their concern. When he seizes saidin and is struck violently ill in the street, the very people he was about to kill looked at him. “The people looked so concerned. So worried. They cared.”

When Rand saw Tam’s terror, he fled to Ebou Dar. When he saw the Ebou Dari concern, he flees to Dragonmount.

There, on top of his grave, Rand sits down in the snow and watches End of Evangelion. Alright, I won’t actually talk about Evangelion here, but seriously, it’s almost exactly the same scene, just with less random Christian imagery.

Which isn’t to say that there’s no Christian symbolism. On Dragonmount, Rand “opened his eyes for the first time in a long while.” A bright light shines in the sky as Rand has his epiphany. This is kind of a common trope, so maybe I’m reaching here, but this feels like an intentional nod to the conversion of Paul the Apostle.

Anyways, we don’t need to look outside the text to appreciate this part. Though, now that I think of it, the last two episodes of the anime might actually fit better than the movie if I was going to talk about Eva. Just Lews Therin and Rand sitting on chairs in each other’s mind.

What I really want to do here, even more than talking about Evangelion, is to quote the entirety of chapter 50, “Veins of Gold.” I’ll restrain myself, but only by commanding everyone watching this to go re-read it some time soon. It’s so good that I’m almost worried that it’ll overshadow the last two books.

We finally see Rand push his hardness to the absolute limit.

“What if I don’t want the Pattern to continue? We live the same lives! Over and over and over. We make the same mistakes.” “Men continue to hurt and hate and die and kill!” “What good is it if everything we know will fade? Great deeds or great tragedies, neither means anything! They will become legends, then those legends will be forgotten, then it will all start over again!” “What if he is right? What if it’s better for this all to end? What if the Light was a lie all along, and this is all just a punishment? We live again and again, growing feeble, dying, trapped forever. We are to be tortured for all time!”

Veins of Gold

Ironically, Rand debated this, from a different angle, with Moridin back in chapter 15, “A Place to Begin.”

Rather than being horrified that nothing they do matters, Moridin takes the perspective that Shai’tan’s victory is inevitable. “When you are victorious, it only leads to another battle. When he is victorious, all things will end.” Rand’s immediate response is to say: “Is that what made you turn to his side? You were always so full of thoughts, Elan. Your logic destroyed you, didn’t it?”

Both Rand and Moridin conclude that the Wheel just continues to create battles until Shai’tan finally wins. Moridin sees Shai’tan’s victory as nothing but a matter of time, and thus everything that leads to it is meaningless, as it will all be erased when Shai’tan finally wins. Rand’s conclusion is even more bleak: even if Shai’tan never wins, the Wheel itself grinds all meaning into nothingness, diluting the fact of today through time until there’s not even the smallest hint of its flavor far enough in the future. We see evidence of this constantly throughout the series, as we see how reality is warped into myth and then forgotten over time. “Did Mosk and Merk really fight with spears of fire, and were they even giants?” Between the two of them, Rand and Moridin have decided that the world is meaningless regardless of who wins.

Significantly, Rand’s epiphany is a counter argument to both of their conclusions.

With Rand at his lowest point, Lews Therin finally speaks with sanity. “Why do we live again? Maybe it’s so that we can have a second chance.” Rand remembers Tam’s point about choice. Why does Rand go to battle? What is the point? “Because each time we live, we get to love again.” “I fight because last time, I failed. I fight because I want to fix what I did wrong. I want to do it right this time.”

If life and love are worth clinging to, even if they’ll be lost with each life, then they’re worth clinging to even if there’s a chance that a new life will never come again. Moridin is so certain that Shai’tan can never be defeated. After all, he’s never been defeated before, or else he’d be gone forever. But, that’s a simplistic way of looking at it, as it ignores two possibilities.

First, that Shai’tan hasn’t yet been defeated doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t be defeated. We’ve already seen this theme come up with the Aes Sedai. Upon hearing that stilling has been Healed, some people have responded with incredulity, but others have responded with the simple fact that something is only impossible until the first person does it. Healing stilling, the Warder bond, and cleansing saidin are all things that seemed impossible, even to the Forsaken. Moridin doesn’t know that Shai’tan cannot be defeated.

Second, it doesn’t necessarily matter even if Shai’tan can’t be defeated! “When you are victorious, it only leads to another battle.” Okay, yeah, that’s how reincarnation works. Moridin wanting to stop the Wheel now because he’s horrified that it will stop eventually is essentially the same as Rand’s horror at realizing that everything you accomplish in life will eventually be forgotten. As he screams from the top of Dragonmount, “NONE OF THIS MATTERS!”

Well, yeah, none of it inherently matters. Life is Bring Your Own Meaning. It seems that Moridin was driven to extreme Nihilism because he’s kind of a bad philosopher. He probably should’ve read more of Taoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. to give himself a better framework for accepting saṃsāra (not to mention the non-duality of saidar and saidin that, I suspect, is why the people in the Age of Legends failed to Heal severing and why the Forsaken thought that cleansing saidin would be impossible.)

Rand drove himself to this because he thought he had to kill the part of himself that cared about things. When Nynaeve confronts him about it, Rand explains: “I continue to wonder why you all assume that I am too dense to see what you find so obvious. Yes, Nynaeve. Yes, this hardness will destroy me. I know.” But, Rand’s wrong. He thinks that the only cost to sacrificing the part of him that feels is that he won’t be happy, but as everyone has been trying to tell him for a long while now, it’s not that simple. This is both a practical and a compassionate concern. Rand should value his life for his own good, but also for everyone else’s.

I mean, he came within the barest thought of eradicating the world and stopping the wheel. I guess that’s one way to achieve moksha. Consuming the world in balefire is likely an acceptable win condition for Shai’tan. All of Rand’s hardness and preparation for the Last Battle would have been truly meaningless if he’d thrown it all away.

Which, on some level, Rand knew. The whole time Rand was trying to be steel and cuendillar, it obviously wasn’t working. It was almost comical how often he was surprised at having let a bit of emotion show. Each time he accidentally lashed out at someone, he reacted as though it was unexpected. Really, Rand acted grumpy towards someone because he was in a bad mood? Rand al’Thor? But he’s so famously calm and slow to anger! How could the man who very seriously told his father – “You have done a great service, Tam al’Thor. By protecting and raising me, you have ushered in a new Age. The world owes you a debt” before going on to explain ‘No, dad, you can’t understand me!’ – how could this man actually show some emotions?

I mean, it’s silly. If Rand didn’t have all that power, this would all feel like a very normal angsty phase. Rand’s basically just listening to “Bodies” (Drowning Pool) on repeat, only pausing it to put on “Closer” (NIN) when Min’s around. Feel free to update those references with something from the past twenty years in your head, if it makes you more comfortable, but I really think that these two tracks pretty much cover Rand’s two moods for the past few books.

It’s relatable, and it’s understandable. Rand tried to make himself into an oak because that’s what he thought he had to be, and he didn’t have anyone around with the ability to teach him how wrong this is. I want to loop back to talking about Rand and Egwene in comparison now, but bear in mind that this isn’t about assigning blame. Even Egwene realizes that Rand’s gone through much worse than her and with less guidance. Even Nynaeve had moments where she wondered whether Rand was right. “This might be what he has to be. The Last Battle is nearly upon us, Min. The Last Battle! Can we dare send a man to fight the Dark One who won’t sacrifice for what needs to be done?”

The lesson

The key difference between Rand and Egwene over the past few books is that Egwene never forgot what she believes in but Rand did. Rand didn’t think that it mattered. He knew what he had to do, so any other feelings on the topic were superfluous. Maybe even a distraction or a weakness to be exploited by his enemies.

When Rand’s path was unclear, he consulted books of prophecy. When he was pushed too hard, he struck back with overwhelming force, rationalizing that he didn’t have the time for anything else. He was afraid of using his personal judgement because that would have meant taking responsibility for his decisions, so he absolved himself of the need for personal judgement with fatalism, and then he called that strength.

When Nynaeve Heals Kerb of Graendal’s Compulsion and then he quickly dies, Nynaeve asks him: “Don’t you feel any guilt at all?” His response? “Should I suffer for them all, Nynaeve? Lay this death at my feet, if you wish. It will just be one of many. How many stones can you pile on a man’s body before the weight stops mattering? How far can you burn a lump of flesh until further heat is irrelevant? If I let myself feel guilt for this boy, then I would need to feel guilt for the others. And it would crush me.”

Egwene used her feelings to know where to go, then used her reason to help her get there. This is how she’s able to change her immediate strategy in response to her changing circumstances. If Egwene had been acting like Rand, she would have only seen that she needed to depose Elaida and she would have let the Tower crumble in the process.

The title of this book is The Gathering Storm, but the winds are already starting to blow. Egwene responded by bending with the winds, changing her strategy without losing her roots. Rand dug in and was nearly blown away.

Sanderson Style

Alright, that covers the main topic for today! But, there’s always more to dig into.

The Gathering Storm is the first of the three novels that Brandon Sanderson has to finish, following Robert Jordan’s death. It really is unfortunate. I mean, obviously someone dying in their 50s sucks. My dad died a few years younger than Jordan – I get it. When I was a teenager, I don’t think I would have seen someone dying in their 50s as “untimely,” but in my 30s… yeah, that’s tragically young.

But I also really feel like Jordan grew as an author over the series. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked every book I’ve read so far in The Wheel of Time, and I’ll be pretty surprised if I wind up hating either of the last two, but when I covered Knife of Dreams I definitely thought it was the best written in the series… and that hasn’t changed after reading The Gathering Storm.

That’s not to say that Sanderson did a bad job by any stretch. The first part of the prologue, on the farm with the storm coming, was haunting. Some of my new favorite chapters are in The Gathering Storm. Honestly, if I hadn’t been reading so carefully, I’m not sure that I would have noticed much difference at all.

But, there are some little things that stuck out.

The first is going to sound really nitpicking, but I think it’s a good example. In the whole series, the word “troops” is used two hundred and eighteen times. Jordan only used it six times. It’s not that Jordan just had his thesaurus out, the difference is that Jordan was specific about what kind of troops he meant. Words like “lancers,” “pikemen,” “crossbowmen,” etc. are used whenever relevant, with words like “troops” or “soldiers” only really used when a more specific term doesn’t apply.

I really liked seeing a bit of blacksmithing worked into the prologue, as this was also something I liked from Robert Jordan’s writing, but sometimes it didn’t feel quite right in The Gathering Storm. For example, when talking about reforging the Tower, Egwene says “It is said by blacksmiths that a sword can never be whole again once it has been shattered. It must be completely reforged, the metal melted down to slag, then reworked and re-formed.” I’m not a blacksmith, but I’m pretty sure that you wouldn’t melt a sword down into “slag,” you’d cut and stack the pieces to make a billet and reforge it from that. Melting it down into slag would require working out all the material mixed in with the slag, which is possible – and maybe this is just some technique I’m not familiar with – but it seems inefficient.

Sanderson never uses the phrase “sack of suet” to describe Vanin. Instead, he’s “perched like a melon atop the back of his horse.” I kind of get the impression here that Sanderson was worried that we wouldn’t be familiar with the word “suet.”

Again, that’s really nitpicky stuff. The more significant thing I noticed is that Sanderson often tells us things that Jordan would have shown us.

For example, there’s a bit in chapter 9, “Leaving Malden,” with some really solid Perrin writing. “He wore his old, stained coat. Faile would chastise him for that. He was supposed to present himself as a lord. But would she really expect him to wear a fine coat if he was going to spend an hour lying in the muddy grass, looking at the bottoms of wagons?” I actually made a note that this feels like some solid Robert Jordan writing, but then he goes on to think: “Faile wouldn’t want him to be in the muddy grass in the first place.” Maybe I’m wrong, but I really feel like Jordan would have left this part off, leaving it up to the reader to understand that Perrin was missing the point. Or maybe I’m supposed to take from this that Perrin’s maturing to the point where he does recognize it? I’m not entirely certain.

I really noticed this the most in chapter 7, “The Plan for Arad Doman.” I can’t really pick out a single quote, as it’s spread throughout most of the chapter. With Jordan, Nynaeve has a very particular style. It’s not just that she’s probably our least reliable narrator, she’s also kind of phrenetic. Her thoughts jump around a lot. She’ll get angry, think something stupid, contradict herself a few times, jump to a completely different topic, then loop back around to correcting herself and coming up with the correct answer to whatever situation she’s in, internally chastising herself for having reacted emotionally in the first place. Nynaeve’s perspective chapters are always really fun for exactly this reason.

Sanderson tries to continue this, but it doesn’t feel quite right. She still has lines like – “She’d told Rand that he needed to forget about the access key. Like talking to a stone. A big, red-haired, iron-faced idiot of a stone. Nynaeve harrumphed to herself.” – but a lot of her characterization is just handed to us as narration without her voice.

I mean… Sanderson still does a decent job of this. He definitely made a solid effort, and I definitely feel like I need to read some of his original work some time. But, Robert Jordan was really very good at writing each character’s perspective in their own voice, even when they aren’t talking or thinking, by putting some of the character’s personality into the narration. The styles are so distinct that I could probably tell which character a paragraph is from even if it doesn’t use any names.

Nynaeve is phrenetic, irritable, chauvanist, but also surprisingly self-deprecating and sincere, and unsurprisingly determined. This comes across in the way her thoughts skip around as her emotions flare up. She’ll often start a thought nearly incoherent with frustration, then quickly settle down and come up with an appropriately wise answer. Minor social mistakes that people make are noted. Clothing is described in greater detail. Notably, this isn’t just what we see in Nynaeve’s thoughts, but in what the narration describes.

Elayne is determined and haughty, but she also has a romantic spirit. Her sections always feel determined, sometimes even ruthless, but she always finds a moment to spare for things that truly matter. In the aftermath of the explosive unweaving of a gateway, Elayne quickly takes charge of the situation, but she still spares a sentence to think: “She would weep for Lioness later.” I mean, she named her horse Lioness. Not all of it is even in what Elayne says or does, but in what she notices. The narration in Elayne chapters mention the scenery, the type of flowers, and the smells more often than other chapters. Elayne’s chapters are almost always joyful to read, even when the actual content is very dark.

Perrin’s style is just what you’d think it is, given his character. He likes to break things down and think them through, but he’s not looking for nuance, he’s just looking for the best answer. His chapters feel completely different from Nynaeve and Elayne’s. Again, it’s not just what Perrin specifically says, does, or even thinks: even the narration is a bit different. Character motivations are supplied more directly. Craftsmanship is mentioned more than in other chapters. Sentences are a bit simpler, more direct. He might come off as slow or simple on the outside, but we can see that he’s actually just specific, cautious, and wise… though he can be a bit brooding and insecure.

I could go on. My point is, Robert Jordan had a remarkable talent for writing in a different style for each character. Not just what the character thinks, but even what the impartial narration notices. Sanderson does a decent job of continuing this, but if you line up chapters directly, I think he does fall a bit short. My impression is that Sanderson doesn’t really trust the reader to do as much work, so he makes things a bit more obvious.

Mat’s banter with Talmanes is a good example: Mat’s sections were always a bit more humorous than other characters, but in The Gathering Storm, it’s downright quippy. Jordan’s humor for Mat was often more situational, and usually just a little bit dark. A lot of the humor came from just how ridiculous a situation was or in how impertinent Mat is. Remember when the Aes Sedai were surrounding him in Ebou Dar and he said “Don’t fight over me. There’s enough to go around.” That was about as overt as Jordan’s humor for Mat got.

Sanderson’s humor for Mat is less about building up a ridiculous scene and then placing Mat in it and more about just having Mat say or do silly things. And… it’s funny. “Women are like mules. Wait. No. Goats. Women are like goats. Except every flaming one thinks she’s a horse instead, and a prize racing more to boot. Do you understand me, Talmanes?” The bit where Mat made up ridiculous backstories for everyone and then they weren’t even necessary made me laugh, and in a way it did feel like Mat… but I can’t really imagine Robert Jordan writing that scene, at least, not in that way. I think Jordan would have put less emphasis on the silly plan and more emphasis on everyone ganging up on Mat to call the plan stupid.

On the other hand, Mat slowly learning that Talmanes isn’t humorless and is actually being deadpan sarcastic at Mat’s expense felt like really solid Mat writing, so maybe I’m just overthinking this.

Anyways, for some people, this might feel like an upgrade. I think that Sanderson’s style is more immediately enjoyable to read. I do feel that he dumbed it down a bit, but that’s a very relative thing; this still feels more nuanced than plenty of other books that I’ve read. But, I didn’t quite get that feeling that every paragraph was meticulously crafted and had to be picked apart to be fully appreciated that I got with Robert Jordan, particularly after he hit his stride a few books into the series.

The last thing I noticed is that, compared with the last couple of books, The Gathering Storm didn’t seem to have as much topical political commentary. I think that this is probably a result of Sanderson needing to complete the work for Jordan. I think that Sanderson – correctly – decided not to work in his own political commentary into someone else’s work, and my impression is that Jordan’s notes just didn’t get to this. It’s also possible that this is a result of the place we are in the series. This is the ending: we need to focus on the story itself. The main themes of the series need to come through here. Working in some new bits of political commentary kind of needs to take a backseat to finishing off the themes we’ve already started.

Of course, it’s also possible that I just missed some things.

Anyways, as I said before, I haven’t actually read any of Sanderson’s other work, so I have no idea how different this is from his usual style. I will say that, despite the few nits I picked just now, I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth the transition was. Finishing a series for someone else has got to be difficult, and I think that Sanderson did a fantastic job with The Gathering Storm.

Other neat stuff

Alright, I’ve said most of the important things that I wanted to say, but there’s still a bunch of neat stuff I want to get to. Rather than trying to spin each tidbit into its own section, I’m just going to kind of ramble about some cool stuff that I liked in the book.

Verin

First, I need to at least briefly mention Verin. I’ve always really liked Verin. If I had to pick an Ajah for myself, I’d probably go with Brown, and I love seeing someone care so much about knowledge and learning while also taking an active role in the world.

I think the thing I miss most about being a software engineer is having an excuse to learn about new technologies and then explain them to other people. I often think about going back to university to pursue a tenure-track faculty position a field I’m not familiar with. But… then I remember how many years it takes before you can actually do anything, assuming you’re one of the lucky few who actually attains a position. I love to learn, to study, to explain, to debate… but I hate meaningless bureaucratic games, I hate working for someone else’s dream, and I hate working for money. I have to do something that matters, if only to myself.

So, I love Verin. A field researcher of the most thrilling sort.

In The Gathering Storm we learn that Verin has been studying the Black Ajah from the inside, but this isn’t the first time we’ve seen her do something cool. Remember when she was using her pieced-together version of Compulsion to question the Aes Sedai who imprisoned Rand? Or, how about when she very nearly poisoned Cadsuane in chapter 25 of Winter’s Heart. “Hastily filling a second cup, Verin slipped the small vial back into her pouch unopened. It was good to be sure of Cadsuane at last. ‘Do you take honey?’ she asked in her most muddled voice. ‘I never can remember.'”

That attitude is just perfect too. Now that’s something I can’t relate to directly, but I still love it. People who spend a lot of time around Verin eventually figure out that she’s not as aloof as she seems, but I generally get the impression that even the people who learn to see through it only do so because Verin decided to let them in on it.

Knowing that Verin has been able to lie this whole time, I’m tempted to go back and see if we can ever catch her in a lie. In “Wolfbrother,” chapter 14 of The Great Hunt, Verin finds the group with Ingtar and the boys, looking for Rand. She specifically says “Moiraine Sedai sent me, Lord Ingtar.” Later, in chapter 49 – “What Was Meant to Be” – we have this exchange between Rand and Moiraine: “‘You sent Verin to shepherd me, but I’m no sheep, Moiraine. You said I could go where I wanted, and I mean to go where you are not.’ ‘I did not send Verin.’ Moiraine frowned. ‘She did that on her own.'”

Remember Moiraine’s letter, in chapter 53 of The Fires of Heaven. “Trust no woman fully who is now Aes Sedai. I do not speak simply of the Black Ajah, though you must always be watchful for them. Be as suspicious of Verin as you are of Alviarin.” I don’t think that Moiraine was entirely certain about Verin, she didn’t grill Rand to discover the specific words Verin used… but she was definitely suspicious, at the very least.

Verin’s death was just perfect for her. For any Aes Sedai, really. She literally killed herself in order to double-cross Shai’tan. The Aes Sedai are infamous for being able to lie without lying, but tricking the devil with your dying words might be the all-time Aes Sedai record. With her book, she managed to both destroy and document the Black Ajah. Sure, plenty of them survived, but their names are known now. They can still serve as Dreadlords in the Last Battle, but they’ve been scoured from the Aes Sedai. For most Aes Sedai, that would have already been a more than glorious death, but Verin also left behind the Black Ajah’s secrets. We don’t know at this point whether Verin’s book contains any secrets that will be immediately useful, but at the very least, there will be a record of the Black Ajah from the inside. Verin’s book will solidify a legacy for her among the Brown Ajah for a very long time.

Her last words are just perfect too. “You will be Amyrlin. I’m confident of it. And an Amyrlin should be well armed with knowledge. That, among all things, is the most sacred duty of the Brown-to army the world with knowledge. I’m still one of them. Please see that they know, although the word Black may brand my name forever, my souls is Brown. Tell them…”

It was also really… nice to see that Egwene had time to grant Verin forgiveness. “I will, Verin. But your soul is not Brown. I can see it. Your souls is of a pure white, Verin. Like the Light itself.”

Hinderstap

Okay, so, I really feel like I should say something about Hinderstap… but it really spoke for itself.

I’ve noted before how Mat has a tendency to go on adventures that feel like a completely different genre from everyone else. Well, this is another example of that. I already mentioned the humor in Mat’s sections while talking about Sanderson’s style, but there’s also some fantastic horror.

The town basically turning into zombies at night and then respawning in the morning felt really bizarre. The idea of a town erupting into depraved violence at night and then returning to normal in the morning isn’t new here, but the very matter-of-fact way that it was told felt very unique to me. I think the strangest part might have actually been the next day, when the town was going about repairing the damage. That’s really surreal. That anyone visiting the town who dies there is reborn in a random bed is practically dream-logic.

The sense of dread as the night approached was also really well done. Looking back at it, there was so many clues as to what was going to happen, but I absolutely did not see it coming. We were given reason to suspect Darkfriends or an angry mayor, but I think we all had a feeling that it wouldn’t be quite that simple. Not at this stage in the story.

I’ve talked before about how Robert Jordan wrote the Myrddraal in a style that feels like a jumpscare. The Hinterstap reveal felt similar. At the end of “The Tipsy Gelding,” the mayor bellows at them to “GO,” then everyone just disappears inside their homes. The next chapter opens mid-action. “‘Burn you, Mat!’ Talmanes said, yanking his sword free from the gut of a twitching villager.” That hits about as hard as that dog jumping through the window in Resident Evil.

I also really like the little bit of introspection we see from Mat.

The sun was barely a haze of light on the horizon, behind those blasted clouds. As Mat waited, he saw the mayor grow more and more anxious. Blood and bloody ashes, the man was a stickler for his rules! Well, Mat would show him, and all of them. He’d show them. . . .

Show them what? That he couldn’t be beaten? What did that prove? As Mat waited, the cart piled higher and higher with foodstuffs, and he began to feel a strange sense of guilt.

I’m not doing anything wrong, he thought. I’ve got to feed my men, don’t I? These men are betting fair, and I’m betting fair. No loaded dice. No cheating.

Except his luck. Well, his luck was his own—just as every man’s luck was his own. Some men were born with a talent for music, and they became bards and gleemen. Who begrudged them earning coin with what the Creator gave them? Mat had luck, and so he used it. There was nothing wrong with that.

Chapter 27, The Tipsy Gelding

Then, in the next chapter, when the mayor gives Mat his winnings, Mat takes out a bit of gold to pay for the supplies.

I like seeing Mat take more and more responsibility for things. He’s always had a decent heart and a particular sense of honor, but seeing him really feel a sense of responsibility here was good. I’ve mentioned before that it actually seems a little unusual that armies don’t often seem to forage for supplies more aggressively in The Wheel of Time, but at the very least we do know that they occasionally resort to forcing people to sell food, as when Egwene noted Bryne’s soldiers foraging a farm. Even if they leave the money – which, again, kind of surprises me – nobody has food to sell anymore. With all the famine and pestilence we’ve seen, people are starving even without being forced to sell supplies.

But, that applies to Mat’s soldiers as well. They might not deserve the food more than the farmers who grew it, but Mat has a responsibility to see them fed. It’s not uncommon for generals to lose more soldiers to hunger and disease than to combat. I’m not even talking solely about premodern battles here, famine and disease are still a major cause of death during war, for both civilians in the region and to combatants.

So far, we’ve mostly seen Mat struggle between taking responsibility or worrying only about himself. Here we’re seeing him question his responsibility towards his men as opposed to his responsibility to the world. He’s not worried about himself at all. This is major growth for Mat, even if the thought doesn’t actually change his behavior. As with Tam’s advice to Rand, the why here matters. Mat’s not hustling these people just to feed himself or have some fun, he’s doing it because he needs to feed his men and he needs to keep his army together to help Rand win the Last Battle.

Miscellaneous

Alright, that’s just about the bottom of the barrel. What else was there.

Oh, so, was anyone else confused by the comment about Rand’s sword? In chapter 1, “Tears from Steel,” there’s a description of Rand’s sword.

He fingered the cloth-tied hilt. The weapon was long, slightly curved, and the lacquered scabbard was painted with a long, sinuous dragon of red and gold. It looked as if it had been designed specifically for Rand—and yet it was centuries old, unearthed only recently. How odd, that they should find this now, he thought, and make a gift of it to me, completely unaware of what they were holding. . . .

He had taken to wearing the sword immediately. It felt right beneath his fingers. He had told no one, not even Min, that he had recognized the weapon. And not, oddly, from Lews Therin’s memories—but Rand’s own.

Chapter 1, Tears from Steel

Later, in chapter 35 – “A Halo of Blackness” – there’s the bit: “Rand reached down, touching the sword he wore at his waist. It was the curved one, with the scabbard of black, painted with the twisting dragon, red and gold. For more reasons than one, it made him think of the last time he had been in Falme.”

Did I miss something? Rand’s sword at Falme was Tam’s and it melted. Turak’s sword was a “heavy curved blade” and it had a heron on it. Artur Hawkwing’s blade, “Justice,” is a great sword. The sword Aviendha gave him, Laman’s sword, had a single-edged, long, curved blade and has a heron on it and Rand planned to have the scabbard and pommel replaced, but it can’t be the sword from Aviendha because then it doesn’t make sense for him to think it notable that he recognizes it, as it’s just Laman’s sword. Why wouldn’t he still carry Aviendha’s sword? Was it destroyed in Semirhage’s attack?

Seriously, if I missed something in a previous book, let me know. Don’t spoil anything from a future book, but I either missed something or this is just a mistake in editing.

I really feel like I should say something about Perrin and Faile in today’s video… but I nothing really happened that wasn’t already covered in my last video. The funeral for the Mera’din was touching, but we already talked about that last time. The bit about Faile feeling as though she learned what it truly means to be nobility in Malden will probably pay off more in the next book. Same for Perrin’s anxiety and loss of direction after getting Faile back. I really like these characters, but we’ll probably have more to talk about next time.

Outro

Alright, let’s just call it here. As I mentioned in the intro, my schedule is kind of crazy right now, with the new house, the renovations, and the move coming up. I normally try to get a new video out every three-to-four weeks, but I’ll probably lose a week or two in the first half of January. Or, maybe I won’t – I’m not actually sure how much work this will all be. In any case, I’m pretty excited to finish up the series, so you won’t have to wait too long, as I’m not going to let myself start on the last book until I have the video for Towers of Midnight finished.

You can also look forward to having a more interesting background next time. I think I did reasonably well making my little office work as a stage, but there’s only so much I can do shuffling around stuffed animals.

As we near the end of the series, I’m also interested in hearing what everyone thinks I should do after I wrap up The Wheel of Time. I kind of started this project on a whim. It’s been about a year since I quit my job to work on more fun and creative things and, although I do miss the money, I definitely made the right choice – this has been really fun! But, I’m not sure what I want to do next.

I could just keep up with literary analysis and criticism, maybe pick up another genre fiction series. My wife has plenty of fantasy recommendations, but I’ve been thinking of doing something a little different, like covering some William Gibson books. I also have a bunch of short story anthologies that I’d love to read and discuss, but I’m not really sure how to structure that content. For this series, it’s been fair to assume that everyone watching has read The Wheel of Time – would it be interesting to cover some short stories that my audience might not be familiar with? Maybe tell each story as a story, in paraphrase, rather than simply summarizing it, then talk about what it means and how it relates to other stories? If I just covered one or two stories per video, I could also get out some shorter and more frequent content.

I’ve also considered doing something a bit more academic, like discussing mythology. I’d love to talk about some stories in translation, maybe some early Japanese stories or the Poetic Edda. As much as I’d like to discuss the classics, I’m not sure if there’s actually anything new to say about The Illiad.

I could also try some videos not tied directly to any work of literature. I’ve mentioned before that I might do a video or two on literary theory and the interpretation of literature. I’ll probably do at least one video on that topic, but I don’t need to stop there. I could also do something based on my career. There are plenty of people talking about pop culture on YouTube, but not many of them have more than a decade of experience as software engineers. I’m worried that doing some videos on how to be a good software engineer or how to be a good manager might alienate the people who are here to discuss literature, but I dunno, maybe it’d be interesting to do just a video or two on the topic.

I could also try to do something weird, like talk about how my experience with software informs my interpretation of literature. My process for analyzing books and making these videos is absolutely based on my experience in software. There’s a lot of similarity in interpreting the meaning in a work of literature and in becoming familiar with a legacy codebase. What did the author intend here? Does it matter what they intended, or just what the result is? Has the meaning changed over time, and if so, should we care more about the original intent or the current usage? How does this work relate to other works directly and how does it relate to historical works? What would this work look like if it was written today?

Anyways, there are a lot of options, and they all sound interesting to me, but I’m starting to build up some subscribers, and I don’t want to alienate those of you who have decided to support me. So, think about what you’d like to see me do next, and let me know in the comments. I can’t promise to follow anyone’s specific recommendation, but I’ll definitely read what everyone says and consider it.

I hope everyone enjoyed talking about The Gathering Storm. See you next time when we’ll talk about Towers of Midnight!