#cause you know lanfear was up in her good dreams

[state-of-being]

Liandrin x lanfear

[midniteowlet]

The Wheel of Stagnation

I’ve had one year and some change to process season two of The Wheel of Time and while I enjoyed my second viewing more than the first I’m still frustrated by its inconsistent character development.

Season one, for better or worse, revolved around Moiraine’s quest to find the dragon reborn - which sees her playing governess to five unruly twenty-somethings hellbent on reenacting middle school drama while trying to save the world. Conversely, season two largely focuses on Rand the Bland and Nynaeve Al’do-anything-I-damn-well-please Meara. The shift in focus, from Moiraine to Rand and Nynaeve causes the story to drag even while the writers sprint through an eight-episode arc. They didn’t have time to squander character development, but squander they did.

The most glaring issue is that Rand and Nynaeve persist in being stubborn to the point of stagnation. When we meet up with Rand in Cairhien it becomes obvious he spends most of his time shacked up with Lanfear and slumming about bars. He’s not shown to have a particular goal in mind nor does he express an urgency to become the dragon. I get it. I would rather spend time with the sinfully dressed Lanfear than the hobo-gone-loco Loghain too. That said, he acts like he has all the time in the world to become the prophesied hero he is meant to be. I know that his stagnation becomes a central plot point, but I could easily argue that this is bad writing because we still don’t know who he is after 16 episodes.

While Rand sightsees in Cairhein, Nynaeve is shown to be stubbornly tolerating the Aes Sedai at the tower. She stagnates by rejecting magical training (something most children dream of being able to do) to drink sewer water. That’ll teach your instructors a lesson! Don’t cleanse your water of impurities, give yourself a parasite or hepatitis! She then stubbornly stagnates in the gates to live with an alternate reality Lan and his baby child only to nearly be trapped there forever. Then she stubbornly stagnates to leave the tower with Egwene and is duped by Liandrin and delivered to the enemy Sul’dam. So, if we’re keeping score, thus far she’s made zero good decisions. And then because she refused training at the tower, she accidentally alerts the Sul’dam to her location when she attempts to channel which leads to the death of a warder and the capture of a sister. FFS.

Moiraine is the best character on this show even though she was on the same journey as Rand and Nynaeve in season two - one of stubbornness and stagnation. The difference is that it killed her to stand still. And so it broke my heart when she lost access to the source, and did the best she could to control affairs from afar, all whilst dealing with the most petulant young adults I’ve ever encountered in fiction. I can only imagine the seismic sigh I’d have heaved in my blue dress while angrily leading this lot through the countryside listening to them talk about how they’re trying so hard while doing absolutely nothing that I have asked them to do. This woman possesses the patience of a saint.

And then, to be accused by the woman she loved of lying after twenty years of affection, adoration, and honesty across vast distances. Blasphemy. Am I frustrated that Moiraine didn’t write Siuan and explain why she wasn’t training Rand? Yes. But even Lan, a man tortured by Moiraine’s dismissal of him this season, knows her heart is good and always in the right place. He performed his duty to her and put her first in all ways. Moiraine didn’t make it easy, but relationships never are. Siuan though? How do you not give Moraine the benefit of the doubt when she cannot lie and is standing before you swearing that you know more than anyone else? When she swears she would never lie to you while tears form in her eyes? To ignore all of their past and violate Moraine’s free will by forcing her to obey an oath is unforgivable. You cannot love a slave.

Let's stop pretending this show is about Rand.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 20: Visitations

You know the drill. Don't keep reading unless you love more spoilers than there are books in this very long series.

This chapter starts with a crescent moon and stars. I believe it's new to this book (Selene's chapters last time having either Portal Stone or Cairhien symbols), and it means Lanfear is up to no good.

For an instant Mat continued to stare at her; then suddenly he realized he was standing there naked. Face scarlet, he shambled to the bed, pulled the blanket around himself like a cloak, and more fell than sat down on the edge of the mattress.

The show robbed us of naked Mat adventures and I for one am deeply offended. Also these boys are weird with how nudity-averse they are except for their ability to forget about it just as a woman is about to check them out. You'd think he'd have freaked out a little sooner, even here.

For a moment he wished that Rand, whatever he had become, or even Perrin were there to advise him.

Mat is probably the least believable of the three to be having this concern considering how many one-night stands he's going to pull off.

“I would not have visited you in this way, Mat, except that I was here in the . . . in the White Tower—” She smiled as if the name amused her—“for another purpose, and I wanted to see all of you.”

Ugh and didn't I just eliminate Lanfear from contention in the whole Grey Man thing? Guess that was premature. Makes some sense she'd try to be cleaning up that mess, but then why not fuck up Egwene and crew at any point in the many months they were virtually defenseless? Did Mat's luck protect them somehow? Also it's a little funny Lanfear finds the name White Tower at all amusing, she's really condescending if she begrudges the new Aes Sedai a new name for their new HQ. But then she also mocks their healing so no surprise there.

“You may have seen me,” she said finally. “Somewhere. Call me Selene.”

Girl what. When did he see you? You pulled Rand to another dimension (or followed him there, whatever), and ditched him once he reached Cairhien. Then you briefly caused drama in Falme but not where Mat was. You invading his dreams maybe?

“Let us just say that I am someone whose interests coincide with yours. These . . . Aes Sedai mean to use you, but you will like it, in the main, I think. And accept it. There is no need to convince you to seek out glory.”

Lanfear once again drastically misunderstands the psychology of everyone around her, news at eleven. Mat doesn't seek out glory so much as get cornered into it when circumstances are such that the only way to do the right thing is to be a hero.

“One of those pathetic followers of Ba’alzamon who think he will give them immortality and power? I follow no one. There is one man I could stand beside, but I do not follow.”

She's so prideful she doesn't even care outright telling a stranger that she's loyal to no one but herself, even though her schemes absolutely could get her in trouble with the shadow.

“By listening to what they tell you, and what they do not. Will they tell you your father came to Tar Valon?”

This is the weirdest little detail because I don't think the visit ever really gets mentioned beyond this chapter and it feels like "Two dudes from the Two Rivers went to Tar Valon and back in between the devastating Trolloc attacks" should come up sometimes.

“Just remember that there is another choice. You need not be a puppet for the White Tower or prey for Ba’alzamon’s Darkfriends. The world is more complex than you can imagine. Do as these Aes Sedai wish for the present, but remember your choices. Will you do that?”

Lanfear accomplishes so little for the Shadow or herself with this speech that I'm still not sure why she bothered. Was Mat just practice for a boy she cared about? Did Jordan intend for Mat and Lanfear to cross paths again (in a meaningful, not tangential to her stalking Rand in disguise way that is) and then just never had room for it? Mat is legit the most reliable of the three ta'veren by a great margin and he never really pursues his own choices, just keeps getting roped into one good deed after another.

And she had not asked him to conceal her visit from the Aes Sedai.

Naturally this is the only thing Mat does end up doing, so I suppose as far as sewing discord goes Lanfear did an okay job but it's not like Mat would have sworn an oath to Siuan if she hadn't dropped in.

He brushed aside a redhawk’s feather, a smooth, striped rock he had liked the colors of, his razor, and his bone-handled pocketknife, and freed his wash-leather purse from some coils of spare bowstring.

When it comes to collecting odd, shiny things, Mat's already pretty much a raven, so he'll fit right into Seanchan if you ignore all the other cultural differences and also the fact that they're not a very raven-like people at all.

They rattled as he pulled them out, but he still popped off the tight-fitting round caps. Everything was as it should be. Five dice carved with symbols, for crowns, and five marked with spots. The spotted dice would do for a number of games, but more men seemed to play crowns than anything else.

The dice get more attention than any other item of clothing in his inventory, probably in part because all of his cool gear (hat, spear, eyepatch) is still to come.

The Amyrlin’s eyebrows rose at the sight of him standing there with the blanket hanging from his shoulders and his purse and dice cups in his hands. “I don’t think you will need those for a while yet, my son,” she said dryly. “Put them up and get back to bed before you fall on your face.”

If Leane hadn't been there and Mat hadn't been obviously about to fall over, who thinks Siuan would totally have played a friendly game or two with Mat?

“Men always seem to refuse to admit they are sick until they’re sick enough to make twice as much work for women. Then they claim they’re well too soon, with the same result.”

*looks pointedly at the women in this series* Yes Siuan, this is absolutely a male trait and not anything else.

They were both looking at him, now. He cleared his throat. “Uh . . . Mother.”

It's funny that Mat cares more about propriety than Siuan or Leane do, even though he's bad at it. It meshes nicely with how he'll eventually be the first one to treat Egwene with the respect her station demands.

“Your name and description are on their way to the bridge guards,” the Amyrlin said, “and the dockmasters. I’ll not try to hold you inside the Tower, but you will not leave Tar Valon until you are well. Should you try to hide in the city, hunger will drive you back here eventually, or if it doesn’t, we will find you before you starve.”

I think Siuan is going for a "cards on the table" approach, not recognizing that Mat's so suspicious of Aes Sedai (and good at cards) that his first instinct is to assume she's hidden something up her sleeve as well.

It might be true. Aes Sedai never lied, but there were too many mights and mays in it for him.

And this is the other problem: Siuan doesn't know the full hand she's playing with, so complete honesty isn't as much of a boon here as it might be if she were in control of the situation.

The Keeper took it up immediately. “We did not know where you were then, Mat. I told him so, and he left before the heavy snows. I gave him some gold to make the journey home easier.”

Note that they had an inkling of where Mat be at that particular point, so Leane's "truthful" statement is still effectively a lie of omission: they were on the Hunt for the Horn, even if the Tower wasn't sure where the hunt was.

“As far as I know,” the Amyrlin said smoothly, “the boy is well enough, but who can say? I have seen him only once, the time I saw you, in Fal Dara.”

Note how Siuan's lie here is to hide the truth from Leane. There's a delay in info from Moiraine, so while Siuan at this moment has no reason to think Rand is hurt, she can't promise it. She also knows that he's the DR with an unhealable wound so saying "he's doing great" would be total BS. But she adds the detail about only seeing Rand once to make him seem unimportant to her, a statement she probably wouldn't worry about if Leane weren't right there. Hence why she sends her away immediately.

She was on her feet and looming over him so fast he hardly saw her move. “You play games with me, boy, and I will make you weep for your mother to come running. I have no time for games, and neither do you. Now, do—you—remember?”

And now of course Siuan has only cemented her position as untrustworthy in Mat's eyes. Good job girl!

She put an elbow on the arm of the chair and propped her chin on her hand. Her eyes never left him. “Would you prefer the alternative?”

Though honestly this is probably the best course to take with Mat. "You're damn right we could have let you die but didn't. Why is that a bad thing again?"

“You remind me of my uncle Huan. No one could ever pin him down. He liked to gamble, too, and he’d much rather have fun than work. He died pulling children out of a burning house. He wouldn’t stop going back as long as there was one left inside. Are you like him, Mat? Will you be there when the flames are high?”

And also she gets points for effortlessly summarizing his character for the next dozen books after just two meetings with Mat, so really she's coming out ahead in this conversation because actually making him a willing ally would be impossible without compulsion.

“I do not want to tell anyone. I wish nobody knew. Why do you want to keep it such a secret? Don’t you trust your Aes Sedai?”

Would you prefer that she did trust her Aes Sedai, Mat?

“Are you telling me Darkfriends could come after me here? I thought the White Tower could keep Darkfriends out.” He remembered what Selene had said about the Black Ajah, and wondered what the Amyrlin would say to that.

A great way to find out would be to tell her. No? That's cool. Absolutely nothing bad could come of Siuan not being aware of who's in the Tower.

Selene had been right about some things; but the Amyrlin had told him she meant to use him, and how. In a way. There were too many holes in what she had said to suit him, too many holes she could slip something deadly through. The Amyrlin wanted something, and Selene wanted something, and he was the rope they were tugging between them. He thought he would rather face Trollocs than be caught between those two.

Really it's a shame that Mat's prejudice against the Aes Sedai can't make him see that Siuan is a much better one in comparison to fucking Lanfear. He never really gets over it at all, which is realistic but still a bit disappointing. Perhaps in Seanchan he'll come around when his options are "sul'dam" or "damane".

Next time: A third new chapter icon in a row?!

[neuxue]

You ever pick them songs for characters? The most on-the-nose song I can think of for Rand is "Wayward Son" by Kansas. But "Wars" by Hurt kind of works too, with lines like "How many weapons did I help create? \ And how many lives will they devastate?" Always makes me think of Rand immediately after Drmai's Wells.

Yes! Well, sort of. I think I tend to associate lyrics rather than full songs with characters, a lot of the time. But yes. 

Though my taste in music is…questionable. Mostly because I just don’t go looking for music often beyond the classical/orchestral stuff I listen to at work, so I… don’t have a lot to choose from that I actually know well, beyond a limited selection of artists who fall into either ‘singer-songwriter with intricate lyrics’ or ‘painfully generic music that ten years ago might have qualified as almost hipster’. Or musicals.

But sure, let’s WoT a go. A random list off the top of my head:

Rand is difficult, probably because I don’t have the right genre. I’ve done Hamilton lyrics I associate with him (and Lews Therin)… oh and there was that time I abandoned dignity entirely and wrote a song for Rand, which still might be my most embarrassing contribution to this fandom…

Weirdly, perhaps, After All by Dar Williams comes to mind for him. Only pieces of it really fit, but there’s a mood it captures that feels like pre-Dragonmount Rand

once upon a time I had control / and reined my soul in tight / well the whole truth is like the story of a wave unfurled / but I held the evil of the world / so I stopped the tide / froze it up from inside / […] / and when I chose to live / there was no joy, it’s just a line I crossed / it wasn’t worth the pain my death would cost

Lanfear - Never Look Away by Vienna Teng 

You are made of nebulas and novas and night skies / you’re made of memories you bury or live by / and if you’re out there in the cold, I’ll cover you in moonlight / if you’re a stranger to your soul, I’ll bring you to your birthright / I want the storm inside you awoken now

(Or, alternatively, Blank Space by Taylor Swift. I’m sorry but I’m also not)

Elayne - The Life of a Princess by Antje Duvekot, mostly for the title and the contrast of a wistful sound with determined lyrics

and she pictures the dance, she imagines the song / and the stairs to her chamber have never seemed longer / and I will fight my battles in person / but I will not be crippled by dreams that have withered and died / when nobody was watching / no I will not be crippled by dreams

Morgase/Tallanvor - The Queen and the Soldier by Suzanne Vega (except for the last verse)

Oh the young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye / she said you won’t understand and you may as well not try / […] / and the sun, it was gold though the sky it was gray / and she wanted more than she ever could say / but she knew how it frightened her and she turned away

Mat - The Lucky One by Alison Krauss. No I will not be accepting constructive criticism at this time.

you’re the lucky one, so I’ve been told / as free as the wind blowing down the road / loved by many, hated by none / I’d say you’re lucky ‘cause I know what you’ve done / […] / give you a song and a one night stand / and you’ll be looking at a happy man / 'cause you’re the lucky one / […] / well you’re blessed I guess by never knowing which road you’re choosing / to you the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing 

Moiraine + Lan - Laughter Lines by Bastille. It’s another one that isn’t an exact match but something about it feels very them to me

I’ll see you in the future when we’re older / and we are full of stories to be told / cross my heart and hope to die / I’ll see you with your laughter lines

Nynaeve - The Tower by Vienna Teng, perhaps. It also maybe works for Siuan, but I’m not sure how well it really works for either of them.

the one who survives by making the lives of others worthwhile / she’s coming apart right before my eyes / the one who depends on the services she renders to those who come knocking / […] / she says I need not to need / or else a love with intuition / someone who reaches out to my weakness and won’t let go / I need not to need / I’ve always been the tower / but now I feel like I’m the flower trying to bloom in snow

Egwene - I feel like I should have all kinds of songs for her but all that comes to mind at the moment is a single verse of Ballad of Fred Noonan by Antje Duvekot, though the rest of the song doesn’t fit at all (I just like it because of… reasons you may be able to guess if you’ve read this blog too closely)

your sustenance was fame / always starving for a thrill / not afraid of a thing / couldn’t you have wished upon a rainbow / just like everybody else / but you had to wish on lightning

Tam - Bring Him Home, from Les Miserables (not really but every fictional father with a doomed son gets this associated with him by default)

he is young, he’s afraid / let him rest, heaven blessed / bring him home, bring him home, bring him home / he’s like the son I might have known / if god had granted me a son / the summers die one by one / how soon they fly, on and on[…] / bring him peace, bring him joy / he is young, he is only a boy / you can take, you can give / let him be let him live

Like I said, no one ever accused me of good taste in music. 

I should have more (especially for the Forsaken) but, while I have a decent enemies-to-lovers playlist with a bit more variety of genres, none of the actual songs fit, annoyingly. And I don’t remember any of the songs from my symphonic metal phase well enough.

[cannoli-reader]

Why do they deserve this? Unless you are the LGBTQ equivalent of a Kirk Cameron/Kevin Sorbo fan who thinks Christian character = Good, why do two of the least competent, nastiest, most selfish, petty and amoral characters on the show deserve a happily ever after (I am assuming that is what is the intent here, not to say that a lifetime of being married to Show Moiraine or Show Siuan is a sufficiently horrible fate for these two arrogant psychos).

Moiraine ignored tell-tale evidence of Shadowspawn near Emond's Field, did nothing to warn the village and trashed the place in the name of protecting it. She whisked off the Emond's Fielders, then, after getting separated from them decided to fart around with her Tower buddies on a pointless journey of a month, escorting a now-gentled and harmless false Dragon to Tar Valon, where, again, she lucked out in them all arriving and falling into her lap. The only reason Logain did not get free and wipe out the whole Aes Sedai party, was due to Nynaeve, whom Moiraine proceeded to condescend towards and try to gaslight, telling her she needed Moriaine to protect her from Tower intrigue and to find her fellow villagers. Nynaeve promptly found Rand & Mat before Moiraine did. Moiraine gave much more of her attention to fussing over a warder who lost his Aes Sedai, while not actually DOING anything to help him, and then took time out for a tryst with Siuan leaving Lan as the sole protection for the candidates for the Dragon Reborn, despite their being in at least two different locations.

While hooking up with Siuan, Moiraine laughs at the couple's history of refusing to follow the rules of their organization, despite Siuan having just made an insanely power-mad public rant resting entirely on her authority as head of that organization. She abused that authority to lambaste a sister for taking action in an emergency in the field, for which Siuan was not present, on the basis of a technical violation of those rules. Then, in their private tryst, she orders Moiraine to take the kids to the Eye of the World and discover by process of literal elimination, who is the Dragon Reborn, because everyone who is not, will die when they go. She imposes a fourth Oath on Moiraine, when Moiraine has already sworn to Speak no word that is not true, which means a simply promise to obey is just as binding as an Oath to do so. Neither of them feels the need to consult anyone else about Siuan's dream, and never mind that all this does is enable Ishamael to escape, with no discernable gain for the Light.

After she is shielded, Moiraine bullies and emotionally abuses Lan, she abuses her status as an Aes Sedai to make Domon jump through hoops and swindle him out of fair recompense for his labors. She conceals dangers from people who actually retain the ability to do something about them. She kills a horse, when they could have used it as a remount, sends an innocent civilian off as a decoy to drawn Lanfear's ire, and turns Rand over to Siuan assuming that her orgasm-provider knows best.

Instead, Siuan decides to leash Rand as her tool, because she is the most powerful person around, as she so loves to gloat to various men. Siuan, who, like Moiraine, thinks rules are for other people, when it comes to her sex life, cites the Tower rules to justify her enslavement of Rand. Moiraine makes a deal with Lanfear to fix her mistake, causing massive amounts of collateral damage to innocent bystanders, and then tells Lan that any amount of murder and evil can be justified if you claim you are doing it in service to the Dragon Reborn. Meanwhile Siuan tries to exploit the Oath Moiraine swore to her, to subvert her own free will.

These two characters are garbage people.

it‘s always been you 🤍

I don‘t know what to tell you about this except that this is what they actually deserve.

bonus:

[ivanaskye]

WoT reactions: book 5

Oh gods, everything is happening absolutely all of the time.

So, like usual, I’m gonna yell about it character by character.

[[MORE]]

(Not that that readmore ever works...)

Rand

Oh, he is a mess.

Remember when Rand was kind of boring and ~just a guy~? Remember when he wasn’t ruling like three or four countries and having a hard time thinking about people in any light other than how he can use them? Remember that?

Because, boy, that Rand is gone

He is literally wanting to die by now

“I deserve death”

“Death would be better”

And this is only book 6 out of 14. Oh boy.

He still Can’t Kill Women tho

This is bad for everyone involved

Pls unlearn ur sexism Rand

Mat

The thing about Mat is that most of his personality traits are things I hate in a character, BUT his core trope is my favorite

He Knows His Past Lives

At least kinda

FORBIDDEN MYSTERIOUS KNOWLEDGE, he is all the other hims he once was

He’s still... Mat tho, desperately trying to run away

All he wants is gambling and casual sex

But NO he has near infinite battle tactics knowledge from 2000 years ago :| I’d feel sorry for him but also like. I do not.

Perrin

Literally not in this book lol, we’ll find out more about what he’s been up to next book

Egwene

Is going through character growth at 500 miles per hour and I’m here for it

That scene where she realized she was talking to Moiraine like an EQUAL. Aaa my heart.

Overrides Nynaeve’s temper with pure calmness

Oh boy I love her

Foreshadowing that she’s gonna be the Amyrlin has only gotten stronger. I feel this in my bones.

Moiraine

I was gonna try to go longer without talking about her, but....

....fuck you, Robert Jordan.

:(

:((

:(((

Okay, the last book and a half she has been displaying every death flag known to man and then some. So I’m not surprised BUT I do still want to cry.

Ofc she had that many flags bc she KNEW SHE WAS GONNA DIE

fucking

She is an archetype I usually HATE (keeps too many secrets) but I! Love her! She is (was) doing her best!

That all said, she might not actually be dead—Amys saying that Rand is a fool right after he says she’s dead + asmodean dying to a mysterious person who may just be Lanfear...

Cause how Moiraine died was tackling Lanfear through a mysterious portal

And now her presence “can’t be felt”

But maybe she’s just in some other reality? I hope?

:x

;-;

Elayne

There are exactly two brain cells left standing now that Moiraine is gone, and Elayne has one of them. (Egwene has the other)

She also uh. Does A Thing this book. But that’s better to talk about under another character’s heading-

Birgitte

Jfc I was NOT expecting what happened here

Tfw you’re in the True Dream World which also serves as an afterlife for perennially reincarnated heroes, which you are, and you’re not supposed to talk to alive people, but you do anyway, and then

Then you get killed, in the afterlife

And develop a fully formed body in the Alive World

And remember all of your past lives

But you’re like, dying

And maybe not in a returning-to-afterlife way

SO ELAYNE FREAKING BONDS YOU AS A WARDER.

Anyway I ship it

Nynaeve

If Egwene gets the award for fastest character development, Nynaeve gets... the opposite award

If anything, she’s getting MORE insufferable and also unselfaware with time

“It’s so great that people get to be around me, who is always calm and never yells at anyone at all!” she thinks. Multiple times.

I’m glad that with her and Elayne we finally got a bit of a Tel’aran’rhiod (True Dream World) training sequence—we hadn’t gotten to see that with Egwene

Meanwhile this book Nynaeve is the poster child for “how close to straight up torturing people are Our Heroes now”

(The answer: pretty close, by which I mean, yes definitely torture, but not the WORST torture. Yet.)

Egeanin

Where is she where is my child

Min

Spends most of the book Escaping with Siuan and Leane, plus giving the two of them a lot of weird looks

Her moment to shine is probably later

Siuan

Let me tell you, as of book 2 or 3 I did not expect her to outlive Moiraine

A Real Good Character

She may be stilled but she can still scheme and manipulate For The Side Of Good

Bonus side effect of not having magic: she is no longer bound by magical path to not lie!

“The Kid Gloves Are Off Motherfuckers” - Siuan Sanche, probably

Leane

Unlike Siuan, finds new purpose/reason not to commit suicide not in revenge but in. Flirting.

“Can’t want to kill myself if I wanna hone my seduction skills instead”

Real galaxy brain take there

I’m love her also

Aviendha

Ok I’m starting to like her now, mostly due to the Most Fanfic Sequence Of Events I Have Ever Read Including In A Fanfic

(That’s right: your fave fanfic could never)

To recap: Aviendha, sneaking into Rand’s to take a bath

Caught naked

Flips out, instinctively does something with the Power that almost no one alive knows how to

That thing being: MAKES A GODDAMN PORTAL

INTO A BLIZZARD

WHILE NAKED, MIND YOU, AND DRIPPING WET

Rand, being Very Concerned about this, grabs a bunch of blankets and follows her

She runs away

For a mile

In a blizzard

While naked

Gets to an iced-over river, FALLS IN

Rand, using the Power but also almost dying himself, pulls her out and wraps her in blankets

Makes a FREAKING HOUSE out of magic

Gets her inside

But That’s Not Enough Body Heat

Oh No He Has To Snuggle Her

Due to the powers of body heat, she retains consciousness

Then They Have Sex

Him, afterwards: oh fuck! We’re not even married! Fuck I guess we can quickly get married as soon as we come back!

Her: marriage whom

Also her, Who Has Just Had Sex With Him: also obviously I can’t marry you, you belong to Elayne

Functions? NO

Brain cells? ABSOLUTELY NOT

Thoughts? NOT EVEN ONCE

I love all these characters y’all

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Dragon Reborn! Chapter 25: Questions

Spoiler warnings and whatnot.

This chapter has Lanfear's moon and stars symbol because she shows up to cause problems.

She had dreamed of the Seanchan, too, of women in dresses with lightning bolts woven on their breasts, collaring a long line of women who wore Great Serpent rings, forcing them to call lightning against the White Tower. That had started her awake in a cold sweat, but that had to be just a nightmare, too. And the dream about Whitecloaks binding her father’s hands. A nightmare brought on by homesickness, she supposed. But the others. . . .

Both of these dreams are prophetic, the former reflecting the attack on the White Tower in TGS and the latter the Whitecloak invasion that will be a major arc of TSR. Egwene's dreams about Rand will not be quoted because all of them are very obvious.

There had been a dream of Mat and Seanchan, too, but she was willing to dismiss that as a nightmare. It had to have been just a nightmare. Just like the one about Mat speaking the Old Tongue. That had to come from what she had heard during his Healing.

Really, all of these ta'veren dreams are pretty self-explanatory. What's much more fun than analyzing them is how Egwene is Cassandra-ing herself.

She’s as touchy about her pride as any man I ever met. But she should not take it out on Elayne and me. Light, if Elayne can stand it, she should be able to. She isn’t the Wisdom anymore.

Egwene is chafing under Nynaeve's presumption of authority now that they're all the same official rank and her practical experience is effectively equal or even in excess of Nynaeve's.

“It tells us it is all too neat,” Elayne said calmly. “What chance that thirteen women chosen solely because they were Darkfriends would be so neatly arrayed across age, across nations, across Ajahs? Shouldn’t there be perhaps three Reds, or four born in Cairhien, or just two the same age, if it was all chance? They had women to choose from or they could not have chosen so random a pattern. There are still Black Ajah in the Tower, or elsewhere we don’t know about. It must mean that.”

Elayne shows off a really good understanding of statistical analysis here, which is impressive considering how many people her age are bad at it in our time. She really has a keen mind for science, so it's a shame she doesn't exist in an era when it does. Perhaps the philosophy will be taken up again by the schools.

“Unless they want us to think they’re hiding a pattern, so we will waste our time hunting for it when there isn’t one. I am not saying there isn’t; I am only saying we do not know yet. Let’s look for it, but I think we ought to look at other things, too, don’t you?”

I think this is a case where Elayne and Egwene are both right. I think the main purpose of the 13 women was to say "We're legion," more than hiding any particular pattern but there is one aspect of the Black Ajah that the group does hide: the Red Ajah is by far the most corrupted of the seven, yet it is the least represented of the set.

Too many items, and more than half the “use unknowns” last studied by Corianin Nedeal. Thirteen of them, to be exact.

The question is, did the Black Ajah successfully represss the knowledge of the dream ter'angreal while keeping it to themselves, or were they totally ignorant of their purpose until a Forsaken told them?

“Item. A carved cluster of six spotted dice, joined at the corners, less than two inches across. Use unknown, save that channeling through it seems to suspend chance in some way, or twist it.”

I do not think this particular ter'angreal ever shows up again. Perhaps the good guys were lucky and the Blacks lost it.

“So there’s Verin to suspect,” Elayne sighed. “If she is Black Ajah, then they know exactly what we are doing. And Alanna.” She gave Egwene an uncertain, sidelong look.

I think that one of the reasons for Verin's long sabbatical to the Two Rivers was so that she could hold off on giving the intel on Egwene's activities as long as possible.

“I like Alanna.” Nynaeve tugged her braid, then shrugged. “Oh, very well. Perha—That is, she did behave oddly.”

Kind of a shame that Egwene doesn't recognize how Nynaeve is genuinely trying here.

“I am not likely to forget it,” Elayne said fervently. “But we should have some other way to get word to her. My mother would have planned it better.”

Elayne's spoiled side does come out a bit in parts; Nynaeve is quite right to point out that the Amyrlin's current condition is entirely unlike any Elayne ever knew Morgase to be in, which is to say, it is the exact situation Morgase is in at this very moment.

She frowned at the ring, then took a deep breath. “I am going to sleep with it tonight.”

Egwene's already chafing under Nynaeve but I think this is the thing that pushes her over into hostility going forward, that Nynaeve tried to take away HER thing, even if it was just about trying to protect the girls.

“Very well. But Elayne and I will be there. I do not know what we can do, but if anything goes wrong, perhaps we can wake you up, or. . . . We will be there.”

Amusingly, watching over Egwene in her sleep *is* practice for what Nynaeve will need to be doing much later at Shayol Ghul.

Egwene hid the stone ring inside her fist. She had the strangest feeling that Else had been staring at it.

I think that this is why Mat bumped into Lanfear when he did, to delay her just long enough that she couldn't have any opportunities to really screw with the ring. If she'd arrived sooner, she may have had a chance to do SOMETHING.

A woman turned to face her at the foot of the ramp, and Egwene stopped in confusion. Whoever she was, this was certainly not Else. All in silver and white silk, she sparked feelings Egwene had never had before. She was taller, more beautiful by far, and the look in her black eyes made Egwene feel small, scrawny, and none too clean.

It's absolutely hilarious that "awaken latent bisexuality to drive envy" is a weave at all. It is absolutely in character for Lanfear to have it.

“I have taken up enough time with you for now. I have more important matters to see to. Leave me.” She gestured back the way Egwene had come.

I don't remember what Lanfear was up to, but I think it was a serious time limit that prevented her from taking the time she'd like to rip the ring from Egwene and prevent one more rival from existing in T'A'R.

Next time: Detective work!