#colored by her own MUCH GREATER knowledge/understanding of the siuan vs. elaida conflict | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

markantonys · 2 years ago

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thinking about gawyn during the coup. upon first read i took min's pov of his behavior at face value and was like "oh no, he's being so scary and cold!" but going back i realized Oh.............Actually, He Is Incredibly Traumatized :(

Worry and fear filled his blue eyes, and his face was a mask of determination not to give in to them.

He was as tight as coiled steel, ready to burst out in any direction.

Most frightening to Min, with that blood-masked face and half-glazed eyes, with his body tensed almost to quivering and his hand upflung as if he had forgotten it, he never raised his voice or put any emotion into it. He only sounded tired, more tired than she had ever heard anyone sound in her life.

“If anything happens to them,” he said in that expressionless voice, “to Egwene or my sister, I will find you, wherever you hide, and I will make sure the same happens to you.” Abruptly he stalked a dozen paces away and stood with his arms folded, head down as if he could not bear to look at them any longer.

he was brittle, ready to shatter at the wrong blow.

#in the books we only get min's pov of the coup and of the 5 minutes of gawyn's actions that she sees #and her assumptions about the rest of his actions #colored by her own MUCH GREATER knowledge/understanding of the siuan vs. elaida conflict #(information gawyn is not privy to in the slightest)#and filtered through a lens of 'gawyn!! how could you fight for The Wrong Side!!'#but i'd bet my bottom dollar that GAWYN'S pov of the coup would've painted a VASTLY different picture #and if we had gotten access to his pov of this scene then reader perception of him might have been different #many books later he reflects on the chaos and confusion of that day but by then it's too late #and the reader has already decided that he personally started the warder fighting and began murdering his teachers unprovoked #which is why i'm excited for the show! bc it will surely follow him during the coup and that will make him more sympathetic imo #also the way these passages could be so easily describing rand and HIS trauma reactions.........foils #gawyn trakand #wot #wot book spoilers #gawyn haters don't interact i just want to cry about my boy in peace with the 4 other people who care about him

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