#Gareth Bryne

[two-ponds-and-a-bowtie]

how I sleep knowing rafe won't make gareth/siuan endgame

[kevin-sedai]

Wheel of Time pool party

Elayne: Decided to have a pool party because she got a new in-ground pool installed. Planned on keeping the look of it secret, but ends up ruining it herself with all the selfies she posted on Instagram.

Aviendha: Is floored by all the water that wetlanders get to just float in and play games. Is first angry at the waste of water, but Elayne enjoys it, so why not her? She takes a bunch of pictures with it and in it to send to the Wise Ones. They never answered.

Egwene: Got there early to help Elayne set up, but ends up setting up by herself because Elayne is playing Marco Polo with Aviendha.

Nynaeve: Shows up shortly after Egwene and brought water and cupcakes. She helps Egwene until she gets sprayed by something in the back. Turns around and sees Mat with one of her cupcakes, whom she begins to chase with promises that he'll regret the first kiss his father gave to his mother when she catches him.

Mat: Shows up with so much beer. Like, so much. Also brought water guns. Nynaneve just needs to lighten up. It's water. Is in a speedo.

Moiraine: Shows up with Thom and ice cream sandwiches no one thanks her for. Siuan is there. She spends a lot of time in the deep end.

Siuan: Is so excited to see Moiraine is finally able to swim so well in the deep end. She came with Gareth Bryne, who can't swim at all. Goes to swim with Moiraine.

Thom: The self-appointed DJ. He does not take requests and asks Gareth to bring him drinks. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

Perrin: Is so excited. Once he and Faile say hello to everyone, he jumps in the pool. He mostly stays in the shallow end because, you guessed it, he can only doggy paddle. Swimmies are too small for his blacksmith arms.

Faile: Is already mad at Perrin because he's spending too much time in the shallow end. Berelain is in the shallow end. She calms herself down and gets the volleyball net and ball she brought. She's finally going to show Berelain who's boss.

Berelain: Unbothered by the daggers that Faile is shooting her, because Galad is there, jumping off the diving board. She gets on a float and goes to the deep end to purposely knock herself off when Galad jumps to get his attention. "You make such big waves," she tells him.

Galad: Is so confused; he doesn't make waves when he dives. He perfected diving so long ago. Anyway, he enjoys what time he can before Morgase comes home. She never gave Elayne the okay to have this party, you know.

Rand: Enjoys himself more than he thought he would. Spends a good amount of time on a lounge chair under the umbrella. Gawyn made him a burger and Rand compliments him on how well he did it. Is confused as to why Gawyn throws the spatula down in a rage though.

Gawyn: Self-appointed grill master. That is, until al'Thor had to ruin it. He made that burger well-done on purpose because he thought al'Thor wouldn't like it like that, but he does anyway? Goes to assert his pool party dominance by doing a flip off the diving board. Belly flops.

Min: Amused that Gawyn belly flops. Figured that's what the red circle she saw over his head was about. Spends most of the time with Rand and Loial to read. Goes in the pool when the volleyball game starts.

Tuon: Went because Knotai is there, and she wanted to make sure he acted properly. The speedo was her idea. Waited five minutes after Egwene told her to go in the pool to actually go in, because it was her decision. Will not put her head under the water because she didn't want to get her hair wet. "She doesn't even have hair, is she crazy?" Elayne is heard asking.

Lan: He spent most of his time so far sitting at the edge of the pool, trying to tune everyone out. Decided that he couldn't anymore. It is time for the volleyball game.

Birgitte: Took so many pictures of Elayne for Elayne while she does all these poses on floats, at the edge of the pool, and on the pool deck. Sees Lan setting up the volleyball net and ditches Elayne to help him.

The game starts pretty friendly but then becomes incredibly competitive. It ends because Faile spikes the ball into Gawyn's face and leaves a red mark on him. "So that's what the red circle meant," Min is heard saying.

Loial: Takes notes during the whole game. What a crazy summer ritual these humans have.

[cha-faile]

Consider

Instead of having Moiraine and Siuan grow out of their queerness and fall in love with men, wouldn’t it be way, way funnier if, after Thom rescues Moiraine and Gareth and Siuan mutually save one another, Thom and Gareth re-meet and fall in love with each other? They can be like “Light it sucks to be thrown out of Caemlyn by Morgase with an execution order on your coattails,” aaaand kiss.

[normallyiminsane]

I wish that Gareth hadn't pursued Siuan thinking she was young enough to be his daughter and still perved over her at the same time. The servant/master dynamic is just a weird kink that both of them have expressly consented to. Other than that, I like their little romance in the Path of Daggers and Egwene's musings on it.

[gunkreads]

I love Gareth Bryne man. Walks into Salidar, goes "Ah. I See," dissects the entire situation in 3 sentences, and says "Well, I don't have anywhere else to be. I'll stick around. "

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 40: The Web Tightens

Spoiler alert: The main character's hair is not anywhere near so dull a color. This post and the whole reread has all kinds of big, terrible spoilers for this book and every other book. Okay, maybe just The Wheel of Time ones. But that's still a lot of spoilers, so if you don't want those you need to be elsewhere. I recommend this great little hole in the wall in Bologna, best Italian food you'll ever have.

Anyway, this chapter has a Flame of Tar Valon symbol, in part because of the Andorian royalty's association with Tar Valon (the imminent tutoring of the kids is discussed) but also because Elaida is here and she is spitting... well, not fire. Acid. But the weak kind.

When he looked back to the table, Moiraine and Logain had vanished, and Ba’alzamon sat there instead.

I assume that this is the moment when Ba'alsy narrows down his candidates definitively. He's using Moiraine and Logain's behaviors as the evidence he needs. Lucky for Rand, he's only mildly concussed so he doesn't stick around for the dream!

She was completely different from Egwene in height and face and body, but every bit as beautiful. He felt a twinge of guilt, but told himself that denying what his eyes saw would not bring Egwene safely to Caemlyn one whit faster.

It sure won't. In fact, the laws of dramatic irony say that if you kiss Elayne right now, Egwene will be safe and sound and right behind you.

“Be quiet, Gawyn.” She was clearly the younger of the two, but she spoke as though she took it for granted that he would obey. The boy’s face struggled as if he had more to say, but to Rand’s surprise he held his peace.

Even now Gawyn is not down for his assigned role in life. Really both he and Elayne are already chafing against the expectations upon them - that's why Elayne is off ruining her dresses climbing trees and carrying medical bags in said ruined dresses. Frankly I think the gap year she takes after going to Tar Valon was quite good for her; she'd be a good queen regardless but without a chance to get to know herself outside of her mother's oversight she wouldn't have been able to get great.

Rand looked at Gawyn. “Does she always expect everybody to do what she tells them?” A flash of surprise crossed the young man’s face, and his mouth tightened with amusement. “Most of the time she does. And most of the time they do.”

Gawyn relaxes a lot around Rand once he realizes how clueless he is. I'm surprised he didn't try the usual gag of keeping him clueless to laugh about it, but honestly it shows that he's not bad at heart. Stupid maybe, but not bad.

Elayne is too busy being a doctor to notice though.

“Not even Mother,” Elayne said, bending her head back over Rand’s hands. “She makes suggestions, and he always does what she suggests, but I’ve never heard her give him a command.” She shook her head.

Oh hey, earlier I was talking about Jordan loving "women are effectively in charge of a relationship because of soft power" and here we have another example of its inversion. Bryne though is pulling this off by seniority - he's been Captain-General and First Prince of the Sword to one woman or another since his mid-20s. Which makes him another fascinating figure, since most armies don't tend to put dudes who aren't in their 30s in charge. As ever, there's all these crazy people who we don't get to know much about.

Looking longingly at the wall, Rand gave his right name before he thought what he was doing, and even added, “From Emond’s Field, in the Two Rivers.” ... Rand stared at him. Elayne was staring, too. Gawyn looked as much under control as ever, but he was babbling. Why?

Once again Rand's ta'veren seems to be a little more fair at this point. Usually Rand doesn't babble half as much. Is it just getting turned on or something. (Also it's hilarious that Gawyn all but says, "You two should fuck" when he learns where Rand's from.)

“I am aware of your fondness for strays, Elayne,” the slender man said reasonably...

It's an interesting contrast between the two brothers that Gawyn kind-of almost suggests he thinks of Rand in such terms and then quickly clarifies that he definitely does not while Galad just does not give a fuck. Always the right thing, no matter who it hurts.

Also is this the only time the two half-bros are ever close to being in the same place? I think it might be and I'm too lazy to check. I guess maybe they're together at the big pre-TG tent meeting? Seems like everyone still alive but Mat, Seanchan, and the Darkfriends are at that one.

“You say I am fond of giving orders. Well, I command you to let nothing happen to you. I command you to be my First Prince of the Sword when I take the throne—the light send that day is far off!—and to lead the armies of Andor with the sort of honor Galad cannot dream of.” “As you command, my Lady.” Gawyn laughed, his bow a parody of Galad’s.

And again the contrast. Galad doesn't like following Elayne's orders but it's proper and he takes it seriously and he does it - then finds ways to work around them for the greater good. Gawyn doesn't take it seriously and so when the time comes to obey he does everything but.

Elayne growled an oath, and Rand’s eyebrows shot up. He had heard that one from the stablemen at The Queen’s Blessing and had been shocked then.

Elayne's first on-page swear. <3

I can't wait for her to learn the real curse words!

Despite her outstretched arms Elayne drew herself up regally. “You dare to bring bare steel into my presence, Tallanvor? Gareth Bryne will have you mucking stables with the meanest trooper for this, if you are lucky!”

One rather gets the impression that Elayne has been practicing this since a young age. "You dare to carry me to the bathtub, [name of generic servant who is helping poor Lini]?" Also dang, I forgot we got Tallanvor this early! This chapter is just filled with introductions - this is the most characters I've had to tag so far and all of them bar Rand, Ishamael and Elayne first appear in this chapter (and her in the last sentences of the previous one).

“You will conduct all three of us to my mother,” Elayne announced suddenly. A grin bloomed on Gawyn’s face.

They give Galad a lot of shit for being hard to have as a sibling, but frankly I expect Galad is very tired of having Elayne as a sibling too.

“The Queen, your lady mother,” Tallanvor announced, “commands me to bring the intruder to her immediately. It is also the Queen’s command that my Lady Elayne and my Lord Gawyn attend her. Also immediately.”

Sorry Elayne, but the Pattern demands Rand and Elaida meet, so there's no way to stop Tallanvor.

“It is not right,” Elayne said. “She asked if I wanted to pick out the one farm she could do the same for, while all around it the crops still failed, but it still isn’t right for us to have flowers when there are people who do not have enough to eat.”

And here we see why Elayne is a good ruler and Elaida is a terrible one - frankly, why the White Tower is a failed institution. If it were worth a damn, after a winter like this one they'd be sending women out across the known world helping what farms they could on the grounds that something was better than nothing. Instead, only the royalty benefit, and it's a meaningless affectation. You can't live off of a palace garden and Elaida's shamelessness is terrible.

And sadly, her ability at ratting is going to go in sharp decline too.

“First rank to accompany me,” Tallanvor commanded. “Announce the Lady Elayne and the Lord Gawyn to Her Majesty,” he told the doorkeepers. “Also Guardsman-Lieutenant Tallanvor, at Her Majesty’s command, with the intruder under guard.”

Good work Tallanvor, you did just defy the word of the Lady Elayne. It's a good thing you leave the palace before she gets crowned or she'd have every right to fire you.

Rand was just congratulating himself on getting it right when he noticed Tallanvor, his head still bent, glaring sideways at him from behind his face-guard. Was I supposed to do something else? He was suddenly angry that Tallanvor expected him to know what to do when no one had told him.

Gawyn is Elayne's First Prince and everyone else is a sworn guard, Rand. They're pissed that you're bowing as if you're Morgase's servant and protector instead of one of her subjects. But again, since you're the Dragon Reborn, you're really probably bowing in the only appropriate way to the woman who is currently your metaphorical wife.

If she had been a widow in Emond’s Field, she would have had a line of suitors outside her door even if she was the worst cook and most slovenly house keeper in the Two Rivers. He saw her studying him and ducked his head, afraid she might be able to tell his thoughts from his face. Light, thinking about the Queen like she was a village woman! You fool!

This is almost foreshadowing, except for the part where she only has the one suitor.

Gawyn, I have thought better of you. You must learn not only to obey your sister, but at the same time to be counterweight for her against disaster.

Don't worry Morgase, Gawyn will put equal effort into both of those endeavors!

But my sisters will keep you away from the unbeliever. That sort of thing is not for you, not yet.

Elaida is quite the fool if she thinks that anything about how she's behaved would bring Elayne to the Red Ajah. That's what she means here, that she thinks Elayne will mature into a hunter of male channelers. Well, she's not entirely wrong.

“A loyal subject from the Two Rivers.” Morgase sighed. “My child, you should pay more heed to those books. The Two Rivers has not seen a tax collector in six generations, nor the Queen’s Guards in seven. I daresay they seldom even think to remember they are part of the Realm.”

Assuming that they measure generations on about the same scale we do (20-30 years), this means that the last tax collector went to the Two Rivers no sooner than 120 years ago, the last guard 140. Possibly as much as 200 years back! The Two Rivers is not part of the Realm! They have as much in common with the average subject of the Lion Throne as a Saldaean!

Sanderson keeping them part of the same kingdom when Perrin's only note was "king" is nothing short of inappropriately inserting his bizarre political beliefs into the story. The man is completely opposed to actual revolution of any kind and Perrin suffered for it. Jordan had damn well been setting up this separation since the beginning, and he was right to do so.

It was his sword she touched, not him, her hand closing around the hilt at the very top. Her fingers tightened and her eyes opened wide with surprise. “A shepherd from the Two Rivers,” she said softly, a whisper meant to be heard by all, “with a heron-mark sword.”

Fain really fucked Elaida up, you know? Here she is, keeping all of the Dark One's eyes out of the palace and being the only person who can see what's right in front of her. None of the guards noticed how terrifying Rand's blade is. Gawyn didn't. Elaida's the only one who sees just how big a threat Rand might be. Sadly, she's going to go completely crazy.

“. . . with a story calculated to entice Elayne and bearing a heron-mark blade. He does not wear an armband or a cockade to proclaim his allegiance, but wrappings that carefully conceal the heron from inquisitive eyes. What chance this, Morgase?”

See what I mean? And worst of all, she only crafts this story because Rand lies and says he arrived that day. Elaida's quite right to object that's an absurd coincidence because even in this world, it is. It's complete bullshit. But now that she's drawn her false conclusion she only wants to damage with it.

She spoke again, barely moving her lips, so softly that he could barely hear her less than an arm’s length away. “This, too, I Foretell. Pain and division come to the whole world, and this man stands at the heart of it. I obey the Queen,” she whispered, “and speak it clearly.”

Elaida loves her some loopholes too. She spoke clearly but inaudibly. Watch for her abuse of loopholes later. I suppose she might have withheld this from everyone because of Rand's ta'veren, but I think it's just her glory hound nature coming out. If Rand's imprisoned or found out here, it's by Queen Morgase. If she hunts him down privately, without orders, it's Elaida doing it and it'll look great on her CV when she runs for usurper in Tar Valon.

First, because I have the advantage of Elaida and Gareth in having heard Two Rivers speech when I was young. You have not the look, but if a dim memory can serve me you have the Two Rivers on your tongue.

I wonder if Morgase and Tam crossed paths while he was on his way to Illian and she was on her way to train at the White Tower.

Elaida was only half attending what the Queen was saying; he could feel her eyes on his back. What would have happened if Morgase had not kept the Aes Sedai with her? 

Another bit of ta'veren luck in this chapter, the final tightening of the web that will set Rand's course for the final act of the book.

“Wrap a shoufa around your head, Rand, and you would be the image of an Aielman. Odd, since Mother seems to think you sound like a Two Rivers man, at least. I wish we could have come to know one another, Rand al’Thor. Fare you well.”

And so ends Rand and Gawyn's only moment around each other, again barring the huge group at Merrilor. This certainly ends whatever friendliness Gawyn has to Rand, from here on out it's hostility and nothing else.

Oh well. This also pretty much ends the chapter, with all that's left being Rand running back to the inn in terror. Who can blame him?

Next time: The party finally reunites (except Thom, who is still pretending to be dead)! Everyone realizes they're screwed!

[iliiuan]

My pick:

Nathan Fillion as Gareth Bryne.

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 40 - The Web Tightens

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

(Flame icon)(1) In which we see a new Talent.

Rand has a dream, first of Logain and Moiraine on opposite sides of a table with him, and then of Ballsy.(2) With a jerk, he wakes and sits up, and immediately wants to lay back down again with nausea, and a sticky spot in his hair. He fell inside the wall, and here's the girl who spoke to him. A velvet cloak lined with pale fur, a silver circlet holding her red-gold curls matching silver jewellery all over her, an embroidered blue silk dress smudged with tree bark: this girl has money and rank to throw away a dress like that.(3)

He's so worried about whether he's gotten himself into trouble that it takes him a minute to realize just how beautiful she is. She's totally different from Egwene in every way, except age, but just as beautiful. He feels a little guilty for the comparison, but he can't deny what his eyes see.

A moment later a boy falls out of the tree behind her, and his resemblance marks him as her close kin, and his embroidery even more elaborate than hers, for a young man. Rand gets even more anxious: the only time any normal person wears clothes like that is on one of the Feastdays. This can't be a public park, and these can't be average people.

The boy, Gawyn, tells the girl, Elayne, that they were supposed to stay in their rooms, but she just HAD to get a look at Logain, and now look at what's dropped in on them. She tells him to hush, and asks Rand if he's alright. He says he's fine, he'll just climb back over the wall-

He's so dizzy, she puts a hand on his shoulder and it's enough to keep him on the ground. She notes that he probably hit his head on the way down, and he's lucky if he only split his scalp on this old tree.

“You’ll get blood on your hands,” he said, drawing back. Firmly she pulled his head back to where she could get at it. “Hold still.” She did not speak sharply, but again there was that note in her voice as if she expected to be obeyed. “It does not look too bad, thank the Light.” From pockets on the inside of her cloak she began taking out an array of tiny vials and twisted packets of paper, finishing with a handful of wadded bandage. He stared at the collection in amazement. It was the sort of thing he would have expected a Wisdom to carry, not someone dressed as she was. She had gotten blood on her fingers, he saw, but it did not seem to bother her. “Give me your water flask, Gawyn,” she said. “I need to wash this.”

Gawyn does so, and tells Rand that Elayne is always finding injured animals, strays, but he's the first human she's worked on. Elayne presses some bandage to his head, and wraps it with a silk scarf, blue and cream and gold. He protests that she can't use that and she just carries on. Rand asks if she always expects people to do what she says, and Gawyn looks amused as he says yes, and most of the time, they do.

She catches sight of his hands, and cleans and treats the scrapes from his climb, as Gawyn says their mother doesn't do what she says, nor Elaida, nor their nurse, Lini. And not Gareth, nobody gives commands to him, not even their mother. Elayne says their mother should just marry Gareth and get it over with, they both want to, but Gawyn says one of them has to bend first, their mother can't and Gareth won't.

Abruptly they turned to stare at Rand. He had the feeling they had forgotten he was there. “Who . . . ?” He had to stop to wet his lips. “Who is your mother?” Elayne’s eyes widened in surprise, but Gawyn spoke in an ordinary tone that made his words all the more jarring. “Morgase, by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Andor, Defender of the Realm, Protector of the People, High Seat of the House Trakand.”

Here's Rand trying to avoid any attention, and he falls clear into the Daughter-Heir's lap in her own palace garden. He stands up abruptly and says he'll just climb back over that wall, and Elayne remarks, startled, that he really didn't know where he was. He bows shortly to both of them and tries to excuse himself, but Gawyn points out that he hasn't even given his own name. He sounds like an Andorman, though not from Caemlyn, and he looks like…(4) well, he knows their names, it's only polite to share his.

Rand gives his name and his home, the Two Rivers. Gawyn sounds surprised for a moment that he's from so far west, but he knows of the area.

“Tabac and wool,” Gawyn said. “I have to know the principal products of every part of the Realm. Of every land, for that matter. Part of my training. Principal products and crafts, and what the people are like. Their customs, their strengths and weaknesses. It’s said Two Rivers people are stubborn. They can be led, if they think you are worthy, but the harder you try to push them, the harder they dig in. Elayne ought to choose her husband from there. It’ll take a man with a will like stone to keep from being trampled by her.” Rand stared at him. Elayne was staring, too. Gawyn looked as much under control as ever, but he was babbling. Why?

They're all interrupted as another young man comes on the scene, the handsomest man Rand has ever seen, almost too handsome for masculinity, tall and thin.(5) He tells Gawyn and Elayne to stay away from this intruder, and Elayne says she'll do no such thing, naming him Galad.

Rand remembers that Galadedrid Damodred is their half-brother, born to Tigraine, the former would-be-queen, and Taringail, the father they all share. He's reasonably well liked by red and white factions alike.

Elayne says Rand is under her protection, and Galad is unmoved. He tries to enlist Gawyn to change Elayne's mind, but Elayne yells at him that he has no control over her actions and to leave her presence. Galad quietly bows and leaves, quickly.

“I hate him,” Elayne breathed. “He is vile and full of envy.” “There you go too far, Elayne,” Gawyn said. “Galad does not know the meaning of envy. Twice he has saved my life, with none to know if he held his hand. If he had not, he would be your First Prince of the Sword in my place.” “Never, Gawyn. I would choose anyone before Galad. Anyone. The lowest stableboy.” Suddenly she smiled and gave her brother a mock-stern look. “You say I am fond of giving orders. Well, I command you to let nothing happen to you. I command you to be my First Prince of the Sword when I take the throne—the light send that day is far off!—and to lead the armies of Andor with the sort of honor Galad cannot dream of.” “As you command, my Lady.” Gawyn laughed, his bow a parody of Galad’s. Elayne gave Rand a thoughtful frown. “Now we must get you out of here quickly.”

Gawyn explains that Galad always does the correct thing, even if he shouldn't, and he's definitely on his way to notify the palace guards. They're found by those guards so quickly, Galad must have run as soon as they wouldn't hear him doing so.

The guards quickly draw bows, and the two royals put themselves between the guards and Rand. One of the soldiers tells them to get down, and Elayne puts on her regal face and berates him for bringing naked steel into her presence. Only a few of the bows lower, but the one who spoke previously, Tallanvor, says that Galad reported a dirty peasant in the garden.

“I doubt very much if Galad reported anything of the kind,” Elayne said. “Galad does not lie.” “Sometimes I wish he would,” Gawyn said softly, for Rand’s ear. “Just once. It might make living with him easier.”

Elayne reiterates that Rand is her guest, and Tallanvor says that word has already been sent to her Majesty that there's an intruder, under her own standing orders as regard intruders on palace grounds. Tallanvor looks a little smug, like he's glad to be able to refuse an improper order from Elayne this once.

Gawyn whispers to Rand that the orders mean prison, just for a few days, it'll be clear he means no harm, if he's not lying. Then Elayne demands that they all be led to her mother, or all to a cell, they will not be separated. Gawyn grins, and Elayne looks downright triumphant. Gawyn explains that Morgase is viewing Logain, and even if she weren't, Tallanvor wouldn't dare to drag them in front of her as if they were under suspicion of something.

Another guard runs up, and Tallanvor steals the triumphant moment. Morgase has demanded that the intruder be brought to her at any rate. As they walk, Rand despairs at his intention of not being noticed today.

On the way, Rand finally notices what's unsettled him about the garden. It's GREEN! Everything, green, while everything outside is still dead. Gawyn says it's Elaida's work, and Elayne says it's not right that they have flowers while their people don't have enough to eat.

They get to one of the smaller halls, are announced, and enter. Rand hastily mimics the other men in the room as they all bow, and Tallanvor glares at him sidelong as if he's doing something wrong.

The queen is seated on a dais, with a blocky man to her right, Gareth Bryne. Behind the throne and to the other side is a woman knitting something, and Rand has trouble putting an age to her. Her needles are the only sound in the room.

Morgase herself has her daughter's beauty, matured and ripened. She tells them they can rise. She notes Elayne's treebark stained dress, and tells Gawyn he should be guarding her against disaster, something she hopes he'll learn at Tar Valon. Elayne protests that everyone in the city was closer than they were, and Morgase says that even caged and under Aes Sedai guard every minute, he's still as dangerous as a wolf. On the journey north, they won't be allowed within a hundred paces of him and if she didn't know how hard the lessons would be, she'd send their nurse to make sure they obey.

Elaida adds that Elayne has the potential to be the greatest queen in Andor's history, but she needs to be shaped first. Rand is suddenly glad he didn't come to her for help, she's scary-stern.

Morgase turns to the issue of Rand, and Elayne relays the events, and says that she's learned much from him, and she would ask that Morgase not misuse a loyal subject of the throne. Morgase says the Two Rivers probably doesn't even think of themselves as Andoran, and Rand shifts uncomfortably, knowing that's very true.

Elaida had put down her knitting, Rand realized, and was studying him. She rose from her stool and slowly came down from the dais to stand before him. “From the Two Rivers?” she said. She reached a hand toward his head; he pulled away from her touch, and she let her hand drop. “With that red in his hair, and gray eyes? Two Rivers people are dark of hair and eye, and they seldom have such height.” Her hand darted out to push back his coat sleeve, exposing lighter skin the sun had not reached so often. “Or such skin.”(6)

He says that his mother was an outlander, that's where his eyes come from, but he's a farmer and shepherd, like his father. Elaida reaches for his sword, and feels it through the wrapping. A shepherd with a heron-mark sword?

Those last few words acted on the chamber as if she had announced the Dark One. Leather and metal creaked behind Rand, boots scuffling on the marble tiles. From the corner of his eye he could see Tallanvor and another of the guardsmen backing away from him to gain room, hands on their swords, prepared to draw and, from their faces, prepared to die. In two quick strides Gareth Bryne was at the front of the dais, between Rand and the Queen. Even Gawyn put himself in front of Elayne, a worried look on his face and a hand on his dagger. Elayne herself looked at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. Morgase did not change expression, but her hands tightened on the gilded arms of her throne.

Morgase remarks that he's much too young to have earned it, but Bryne says it belongs with him, though he doesn't know how he knows. The way he stands, the look in his eyes, and the way the sword suits him somehow.(7) Elaida asks how he came by the blade, and he says his father gave it to him, thought he'd need a sword out in the world. He lies, though, about when he arrived in Caemlyn, and where he's staying.

Elaida asks what the chances are of this young man coming into town on the same day as Logain,(8) right before the Daughter-Heir leaves for Tar Valon, entering the palace grounds with a story all but calculated to intrigue Elayne, bearing a heron-mark blade, and nothing to mark his allegiance, just a wrap to hide the sword. Elayne protests that he was trying to leave, if they hadn't stopped him he'd have left back over the wall. Elaida says he's dangerous, and Morgase asks if this is a Foretelling, a reading of the Pattern.

“This I Foretell,” Elaida replied, “and swear under the Light that I can say no clearer. From this day Andor marches toward pain and division. The Shadow has yet to darken to its blackest, and I cannot see if the Light will come after. Where the world has wept one tear, it will weep thousands. This I Foretell.” A pall of silence clung to the room, broken only by Morgase expelling her breath as if it were her last. Elaida continued to stare into Rand’s eyes. She spoke again, barely moving her lips, so softly that he could barely hear her less than an arm’s length away. “This, too, I Foretell. Pain and division come to the whole world, and this man stands at the heart of it. I obey the Queen,” she whispered, “and speak it clearly.”

Morgase asks Bryne's opinion, and he says anyone can see things will get worse before better. He thinks the boy's just here by chance, though his own bad luck. Put him in a cell until the kids are on the road, unless Elaida has more to add. Elaida just says a few weeks in a cell will give her time maybe to learn more about him.

“Suspicion is smothering Caemlyn, perhaps all of Andor. Fear and black suspicion. Women denounce their neighbors for Darkfriends. Men scrawl the Dragon’s Fang on the doors of people they have known for years. I will not become part of it.”

Morgase swears she will not become part of it. She asks Rand to swear that his father gave him the blade, that he only climbed the wall to see Logain, and that he means no harm to her children. He swears all these, particularly the last.

“I mean no harm to anyone, my Queen. To you and yours least of all.”

Morgase gives three reasons for letting him go. First, she heard the Two Rivers accent when she was young,(9) and he has the sound of it, if not the look. Second, nobody who looks like him would say he was from the Two Rivers unless it was true, and his father giving him the sword is too preposterous to be a lie. And third, the voice that whispers that the best lie is often one too ridiculous to be taken for a lie . . . that voice is not proof.

She dismisses Rand, asking Tallanvor to escort him out of the palace. Elayne and Gawyn go along with them, but Rand just thinks to himself that he doesn't have the look of the Two Rivers, and he stands at the heart of something terrible. He's so distracted that he doesn't realize when they're at the palace entrance.

Elayne says it's the custom not to watch a guest leave, because it's their company that should be remembered. Rand says it's Two Rivers custom to bring a gift when you go visiting, but he has nothing to give but what he's taught her. Elayne gives him a dazzling smile and says if she'd mentioned that she thinks he's handsome, her mother definitely would have locked him up. Then she leaves before he can think of another reply.

Rand asks Gawyn what he meant by Rand not having the look of the Two Rivers. He hesitates, then says, if Rand wrapped a shoufa around his head, he'd be the image of an Aielman.(10) Odd, since Morgase believes him about the Two Rivers. Gawyn wishes aloud that they could have gotten to know each other, then leaves as well.

Rand is stunned by this, until Tallanvor coughs impatiently at him to gtfo. He ducks through the open sallyport door, which nearly hits him in the heels as it closes. Everyone's gone from the plaza now, and he realizes if Elaida wanted to find him, he's fully visible here. He walks, then trots, and by the time he gets to the newer part of the city, he's at a full run.

=====

(1) Likely for Elaida's involvement, as an Aes Sedai. (2) Do you think this little dream has any meaning, or is Rand's unconscious just freaking out? (3) Once we work past the "SIGH not royalty in fantasy again" (which, fair, but this one's not the worst of the lot) I'd also like to point out how much we can guess of her character from this chapter. After climbing a tree to defy her mother's order, she tends Rand's wounds and offers the very bounds of her protection when they've known each other five minutes. Elayne might be a princess, and she takes her duty very seriously, but she's also kind and seems to push at the boundary of the expectations set upon her. She likes her silk dress and luxe cloak but they're plainer than Gawyn's, she'll mostly obey her mother and show up where she's commanded to, but she also wants to climb trees, maybe get into a little good-natured trouble, understand some of what normal people do. She's sheltered but not afraid of the world, privileged but not selfish. She wants Elaida to stop using her magic on the garden and use it to feed the people. It's not just ta'veren that has her protecting Rand in this very first meeting: she wants to know her people and believe the best of them just as she wants to be the best she can be for them. (4) He looks like an Aielman, as Loial said, and Gawyn will again shortly. Even if he weren't the tallest man around, his features mark him out. (5) We get a mega dose of Arthuriana in Caemlyn-Camelot. In Galad-Galahad, the prettiest man to ever walk the earth, who always does the right thing even when it makes things worse. He's only half-brother to the other two, and there's clearly a bit of a distance there emotionally.

(6) Ah, here's where we definitely find out that Andor's very brown, typically. Rand's skin where the sun doesn't get very often is too pale to pass for a real Andorman. When Elaida pulls up his sleeve, it totally outs him. Which, not cool, Elaida, but also, it's nice to have on-page confirmation in the book that hey, the author actually thought about it and rejected the idea that his main country had to be fantasy-England. Not only a fantasy version of England, but also the fantasy of England as being white and only white. (7) Funny that Gareth Bryne, who presumably carries or owns his own heron-marked blade or has known enough men who do, says that the sword just suits Rand, that he carries it like he was born to it. We know well enough by now that Rand is the Dragon, but reincarnation implies a division between lives. (8) A poor choice of date, on Rand's part. He could've said he arrived longer ago. (9) It would be rather fascinating, wouldn't it, if Tam was the one she'd met, since he's the only one we know of who's left and seen the world? (10) And when Gawyn explains, Rand finally has confirmation that it's not just ancient Ogier legend, he really looks Aiel, like modern Aiel. Welp. That's a way to leave off the day.

[sixth-light]

ok ok slightly feral post as promised.

first, some context setting: I think it's really interesting to analyse texts in terms of both what the author was trying to do (and whether they succeeded) and what they ended up doing (intentionally or not) and I think their cultural/historical context is vital if you want to do this. I'm not interested in whether Robert Jordan or the Wheel of Time are, like, morally correct in their politics or whatever. I'm interested in what the art is trying to do.

and the thing about Jordan, see, is that he projected this image during his lifetime of a Genial Older Man (see: beard and pipe) but he...wasn't actually that old! He was 42 when EoTW was published. He died at 58. He was a Baby Boomer publishing books at a time when Baby Boomers were the hip young generation taking over from stodgy WWII veterans (Gen Z: It Will Happen To You Too).

What this means is that he was a child and adolescent during the Civil Rights movement, in a then-majority Black city in the Jim Crow South*. He would have gone to segregated schools. The tertiary institutions he attended had only started to desegregate a year or two before he attended each of them. I think his war trauma in Vietnam gets a lot of attention because he did talk about it and also because that's a narrative we understand for white men, but I think we...skim over the impact on white men of growing up at this time because? Civil Rights only happened to Black Americans I guess? but it's his context too. Similarly, he was an adolescent and young man at the time the (white) feminist movement was really kicking off in the US. he was in his mid-20s when banks were first legally *required* to allow women to open accounts and have credit cards in their own names. he went on to marry a woman a decade older than him, who had left her husband to raise her son as a single mother while continuing a professional career in the early 70s; these were issues that must have been incredibly relevant for her.

and what we see in his writing is attempts to grapple with gender and race that are self-evidently of mixed success, but I think have to be contextualised in light of this period of immense change he grew up in. Think about the predominance of women as merchants and bankers in WoT, in the context of how recent their rights to even control their own money were in the US. The...everything...he was trying to do with the Seanchan, making them extra-canonically Southern American-coded. The Whitecloaks as the KKK (among other things, of course).

As an example, I think there's also something probably unintentional but fascinating in the way he presents the pre-Breaking Aiel: bluntly, they are a distinct ethnic group in hereditary servitude (always thinking about how that ancestor of Rand's in the Rhuidean sequence had to get permission from Mierin Sedai to switch to someone else's service so he could marry his girlfriend, this is...uh...super cognate to issues enslaved Black people faced). They're associated with agriculture through the Song sequence. And they're pretty much the ideal of what slave-owning Southern American culture WANTED enslaved Black people to be: completely happy to serve. Then, as the post-breaking Aiel, they become feared as a source of violence, which resonates with the way that enslaved people were feared by their slavers.

I don't think for a second that the intention here was to depict the AoL as a Secret Slavery Dystopia, I think we're meant to take the Rhuidean flashback sections pretty much as they read on the page. But I also think putting Jordan in his historical and cultural context does pose the comparison. Similarly, I find it really interesting that he positions Seanchan as riven by constant revolts and uprisings (because it's a fascist slaver regime) but he never ever goes so far as to link enslaved people in Seanchan (damane and da'covale) to those revolts and uprisings, even though that is fundamentally the deep fear *for real and obvious reasons* of all slavery-based societies.

Or then there's the changes to the Two Rivers in the books - like, both then and now I think it's actually pretty radical to present an influx of Muslim-coded refugees of colour as a thing that enriches the Two Rivers both socially and economically. Various characters are wistful that it's changed, but they don't think it's bad. The text here is really clear that welcoming the Domani and Almoth Plain refugees is both morally right and beneficial. And this is in a book being written and published shortly after the first Gulf War.

There's so many more things like this where I just have no real idea what he was trying to do on purpose and what was accidental and what was fun for him in fiction but did not necessarily link at all to his real-world political beliefs. but gosh it's interesting to turn over and poke at.

[gunkreads]

Screaming crying from the rooftops CHARACTERS CAN BE STRIPPED OF ROMANTIC SUBPLOTS AND STILL BE RELEVANT TO THE STORY HOLY FUCK NOT EVERYTHING IS FUCKING SHIPPING

I don't have a Bryne defense locked and loaded like I do for Gawyn, but consider that Bryne's indispensable role in the Salidar plotline is deconstructing the Aes Sedai's perceptions of the world through existing power structures and helping them understand that they need people to buy in to their cause. In the books, Bryne was a little thin, I'll grant you that, but cutting him from the show robs them of the opportunity to enhance his role as the world-weary realist who helps the exile Tower understand that brute force doesn't raise armies. Even in the books, he's instrumental in helping the exile Tower understand how the changing world doesn't function under the same rules the Tower has created; the show could snag this opportunity to expand that story-long arc and have Bryne be one of the system-shocks that convince the Aes Sedai that massive changes to their general operations are both good and essential to survival.

"Not relevant to the plot" my stinky ass

Lmao I already saw someone say “does this mean no Gareth Bryne?” GIRL WE DONT NEED HIM

[tiredmoonslut]

So bc I like pain I'm going to share the WOT Prime theory I've kept closest to my chest.

I think Lanfear stilled Siuan.

I've felt this way since the scene first happened. The way the shield Siuan put around Rand had evaporated the moment Siuan was struck. The way Lanfear emphasised that a broken Amyrlin was more useful to her than a dead one. Broken how? Clearly Siuan wasn't grievously injured, or else Lanfear wouldn't have said that, and how else would you truly break an Aes Sedai if not by stilling them?

I think they're going to have Siuan stilled prior to Elaida's coup---instead using the event, Moiraine's apparent betrayal, and the loss of Rand when they'd had him in hand as her grounds for taking Siuan's place on the Seat. If Siuan is not even able to channel, she cannot lead, laying the groundwork perfectly for the alternate timeline version of the Tower schism. This also sets Siuan (and Leane, if they include her how she's included in the books) up for needing to catch up with Moiraine and Rand's group, as they have no other sanctuary. I presume the whole thing with Gareth Bryne is off the table, and putting Siuan and Leane immediately in Nynaeve's path sets up their stories (and Nynaeve's) nicely. Then they can lead into Salidar and Egwene and all that.

But ooooof the angst and circular storytelling of Moiraine losing her Power and not having Siuan to lean on versus Siuan losing her Power and not having Moiraine to lean on come on you see what I'm getting at right come on

[markantonys]

i have spilled so much ink about gawyn but really i only need 2 passages to explain why he is Like That

1. My blood shed before hers; my life given before hers...That was the oath he had taken when barely tall enough to peer into Elayne's cradle. ... Gareth Bryne had had to explain to him what it meant, but even then he had known he had to keep that oath if he failed at everything else in his life. (LOC prologue)

2. From Morgase, Queen of Andor, to her beloved son, Gawyn. May he be a living sword for his sister and Andor. (ACOS prologue)

like yeah, no wonder he does what he does in AMOL. people will be like "gawyn is so stupid for not thinking about the fact that his death would hurt egwene" as if he's being maliciously stupid and careless, when in fact, he has such little self-worth that he genuinely does not consider himself a valuable human being whose loss would impact anyone or anything. his life given before hers. a living sword. this has been his mindset since toddlerhood and nobody ever noticed it enough to try and counteract it. gawyn is exactly what rand would have been like at the last battle if he hadn't had a mental health intervention.

[amemoryofwot]

There is a certain fandom segment anxious for Gareth Bryne casting because they feel it a sort of “course correction” into the book canon relationships and away from the show’s focus on Siuan and Moiraine’s relationship, the least charitable of these people have expressed it as a retribution for Siuaraine or the show being woke or Moiraine having “too much focus”

Anyways we don’t need him! He is not plot relevant!! Anything he does can be done by someone else!!

[ofthebrownajah]

"Gareth Bryne would have killed me, had he known. Morgase would have ordered my death. Morgase would be alive, perhaps. Elayne's mother alive. Aviendha alive. Mat. Moiraine. How many alive, if I had died?"

"I have earned my torment. I deserve the final death. Oh, Ilyena, I deserve death. I deserve death."

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Potential season 3 spoiler ahead

Gonna take this with a pinch of salt for now, because I'm fairly sure that Tanchico and Rhuidean are both being shot in South Africa so this could just be a simple mix up or he's there filming for a dream sequence or something.

I would be incredibly shocked if it does turn out to be true, because what is there for Mat to do in Tanchico? The article speculates that they'll be combining Tanchico and Ebou Dar because they have such similar beats, but it feels way too early to be doing Ebou Dar. I wonder if the intention is for Mat to form the Band as the Wonder Girls make their way to Salidar and then have him effectively replace Gareth Bryne as leader of the rebels army. I can see that sort of working, but I really do hope they don't throw out his Waste plotline.

I'm not surprised Min is there, I've long thought she'd replace Juilin in that plotline. She isn't really essential to the White Tower plotline, and it considering where they end up it makes sense to have her spend as much time with Elayne as possible.

[butterflydm]

Since you're on a reread right now (and I don't have the spoons for one), I'm curious: does Min pass the Bechdel test after she leaves Salidar?

Oh, that is a huge task, anon!

Haha, off the top of my head, I can't think of any -- maybe her telling Melaine about her being pregnant, if you count her napping on Rand's lap as her 'leaving' her earlier conversation and starting a new one, oh but Rand is still part of that convo, so I guess it doesn't count. Ah, maybe a super-late series conversation she has once she leaves Rand's side counts.

I know that most of the female characters talk to other female characters about plot points fairly frequently but once Min gloms herself to Rand, most of her conversations happen with at least one man around or a man as the object of the convo, I think. But actually sifting through the books to check would be a pretty big task.

What I can do is run a general search on my pdfs and see if I get any results that might count. I'm going to use "Min said" or "said Min" as my search phrases, which is not ideal and probably won't find every time she talks to someone (it misses any time she was introduced in a scene via prose but then Jordan used "she said", for example) but should hopefully give an idea.

TEotW: the only time she talks to someone 'on-screen' in this book is her conversation with Rand, so nothing in this book.

TGH: has ten conversations in this book. First one mentions Rand; second one mentions Galad and Logain; third one mentions Rand (and is the first occurrence of her blaming Rand for things that are her own choice); fourth one mentions Doman; fifth one counts!; sixth is with Doman; seventh one counts!; eighth one counts!; ninth one is about Rand; tenth is with Rand. So 3 out of 10 aren't about or with men.

TDR: has four conversations in this book. First one is about Rand; second one is about Rand; third one is about Rand; fourth one is about Rand. So 0 for 4 in this one.

TSR: has four conversations in this book. First one mentions Gawyn; second one is with Gawyn and Galad; third one is about Rand; fourth one is her helping Leane and Siuan escape and counts; fifth one is with Gawyn. 1 out of 4.

TFoH: has five conversations. First one is about Gareth Bryne and Rand; second one maybe technically counts but Min is thinking about men a lot during it; third one is about Logain; Elayne and Min's reunion technically counts because they don't mention Rand out loud but he's the obvious subtext; and then they do talk about him in the fifth conversation. So... two half points adding up to one full one?

LoC: has six conversations. First one is about Rand (and is Min expressing the idea that Rand is the only thing that gives her happy thoughts); the second is about Rand; the third is her reunion with Rand; the fourth technically counts but is about her escaping Merana and the embassy so that she can go see Rand again; the fifth is Perrin introducing Faile and Min; the sixth is with Rand. So maybe half a point, but that 'conversation' is a single line of dialogue and the subtext was about Rand.

ACoS: has four conversations. First one is with Rand; second one is with Rand; third one is about Rand; fourth one is with Rand. 0 out of 4.

TPoD: has three conversations. First one is Min fetching drinks for Rand and Dobraine; second one is with Rand; third one is with Rand. 0 out of 3.

WH: has seven conversations. First one is with Rand; second one is with Rand; third one is about Rand (Min talks about how she "doesn't tell him things he doesn't need to know"); third one is the group love confession to Rand; fourth one is about Rand; fifth one is with Rand; sixth one is about Rand; seventh one is with Rand. 0 out of 7.

CoT: has one conversation, with Rand. 0 out of 1.

KoD: has eight conversations. First one is about Rand; second one is about Rand; third one is with Rand (and is the infamous "Min struts sexily through corpses on a battlefield" scene); fourth is with Rand; fifth is with Rand and Loial; sixth is with Rand; seventh is about Rand; eighth is about Rand. 0 out of 8.

TGS: has nine conversations. First is with Rand; second is with Rand; third is with Rand; fourth is about Rand; fifth is with Rand; sixth is with Rand; seventh is about Rand; eighth is about Rand; ninth is about Rand. 0 out of 9.

ToM: has seven conversations. First is about Rand; second is with Rand; third is with Rand; fourth is with Rand; fifth is with Rand; sixth is with Rand; seventh is with Rand. 0 out of 7.

AMoL: has fourteen conversations. First is with Rand; second is with Bryne; third is about Bryne; fourth is with Mat (and features their bizarrely appearing from nowhere friendship); fifth is with Mat; sixth is with Mat; seventh is about Mat; eighth includes Mat but most of the scene is a conversation between Min and slaver princess; ninth is with Mat; tenth is about Gareth Bryne and Mat (her convo with Siuan); eleventh technically counts but it's her leaving a helpless slave to die while cursing her for not helping (when Min should know that it's impossible) and is only two words and is said along the way to rescuing Mat, which is her focus in the scene; twelfth is with Mat; thirteenth is about Mat; and her last scene in the series is about Rand. So... half a point out of 14, I guess?

Just for comparison's sake, I'll pull out a random book for Aviendha and see what I get. I used a randomizer to give me a book number between 3-14 and got 9, so Winter's Heart. I'll use the same criteria ("Aviendha said" and "said Aviendha"). I'm doing Aviendha instead of, for example, Elayne, because I feel like Aviendha is closer to the same kind of secondary character status as Min, while Elayne is a main character so she's going to be talking a lot more.

Aviendha in Winter's Heart: ten conversations.

First conversation is her first-sister bonding with Elayne. While it does touch on Rand during the confessions, the bonding itself is a whole group of women talking about a bonding ceremony between two women. Still, for fairness sake, I won't count it.

Second conversation is talking with Birgitte about Nynaeve. 1 point.

Third conversation is with Birgitte, Elayne, and Nynaeve and they talk about Dyelin's loyalty and Aviendha teases Elayne about her being overly proud. They do mention male assassins during the convo, so I won't count it.

Fourth conversation is the love confession with Rand (as mentioned above).

The fifth conversation is introducing Min to Birgitte. Again, Rand is somewhat mentioned here, so I won't count it.

Sixth conversation mentions Elayne tricking people into thinking Mellar is her kids' dad, so doesn't count.

Seventh is Aviendha and Elayne talking about pregnancy and the Kin, so that's a second point.

Eighth is Aviendha, Elayne, and Birgitte talking over plans; third point.

Ninth is Aviendha talking to Birgitte about Elayne. Fourth point.

Tenth is Aviendha talking to Master Norry to get him to leave a very-tired Elayne alone, doesn't count.

For 4 out of 10 for Aviendha there.