#draghkar

[wot-tidbits]

Raven by eismesser

Gate by eismesser

Bond by eismesser

Throne by eismesser

Grolm by eismesser

Talent by eismesser

Shadowspawn by eismesser

[chloristoflora]

Lan must have asked a question, for Moiraine suddenly shouted, over the wind and the pounding of hooves. "I cannot! Most especially not from the back of a galloping horse. They are not easily killed, even when they can be seen. We must run, and hope."

They galloped through a tatter of fog, thin and no higher than the horses' knees. Cloud sped through it in two strides, and Rand blinked, wondering if he had imagined it. Surely the night was too cold for fog. Another patch of ragged gray whisked by them to one side, larger than the first. It had been growing, as if the mist oozed from the ground. Above them, the Draghkar screamed in rage. Fog enveloped the riders for a brief moment and was gone, came again and vanished behind. The icy mist left a chill dampness on Rand's face and hands. Then a wall of pale gray loomed before them, and they were suddenly enshrouded. The thickness of it muffled the sound of their hooves to dullness, and the cries from overhead seemed to come through a wall. Rand could only just make out the shapes of Egwene and Thom Merrilin on either side of him.

Lan did not slow their pace. "There is still only one place we can be going," he called, his voice sounding hollow and directionless.

"Myrddraal are sly," Moiraine replied. "I will use its own slyness against it." They galloped on silently.

Slaty mist obscured both sky and ground, so that the riders, themselves turned to shadow, appeared to float through night clouds. Even the legs of their own horses seemed to have vanished.

Rand shifted in his saddle, shrinking away from the icy fog. Knowing that Moiraine could do things, even seeing her do them, was one thing; having those things leave his skin damp was something else again. He realized he was holding his breath, too, and called himself nine kinds of idiot. He could not ride all the way to Taren Ferry without breathing. She had used the One Power on Tam, and he seemed all right. Still, he had to make himself let that breath go and inhale. The air was heavy, but if colder it was otherwise no different than that on any other foggy night. He told himself that, but he was not sure he believed it.

The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #1, Chapter 11: The Road To Taren Ferry)

[mashithamel]

It’s not quite the same, but in Fires of Heaven Moiraine leaves Rand to fight on his own (I forget if it’s more explicit elsewhere—someone please chime in) against a Draghkar sent by Sammael. Lan is not happy with having held back, but followed Moiraine’s orders on this one. She’s trying to do everything she can to get Rand ready to be on his own.

S3 E1 Moiraine leaves the kids on their own to manipulate them, and doesn’t allow Lan to go to their defense. It’s a seriously dirty ploy, but I love to see the writers base the changes they make on the source material.

[amemoryofwot]

Oh another fun parallel is when Aviendha shoots some fire past Rand’s head to take out the Draghkar behind him and he yells at her before he knows what she was actually doing, versus Tuon trusting Mat when he throws a dagger past her

[iviarellereads]

The Shadow Rising, Chapter 50 - Traps

(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.)

(Crescent moon icon) In which I can finally let you in on some secrets you could absolutely figure out for yourself if you kept notes, too.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand observes the Aiel’s home culture and wishes he could trust Moiraine not to hand him over to the Tower on a leash as he makes his way to find a gift suitable for Aviendha, to thank her. He avoids the peddlers' wagons, in favour of talking to the Maidens. When he finds a bracelet he thinks will suit, the woman he's bartering with, Adelin, asks why he wants it. When he explains, she says she will take no price for it, and gives what must be a ritual response because it gets repeated with every Maiden present for no reason Rand can ascertain.

He finds Avi and gives her the bracelet, telling her what happened. She explains that they think he's trying to catch her interest romantically. He says he can set them straight, but she tells him no, that would dishonor her. It's not his fault, she says, and she apologizes if she ruined his meal. Now, he should go, she has carpets to beat the dust out of.(1)

Rand goes back to Lian and Amys's house, discusses how he knows Avi is a spy and they won't learn anything from him through her, and Melaine snaps that they want him to know their blood for his own so that he might save more than a remnant of a remnant of them. Amys intercedes, and Rand is shown to his room. He falls asleep seeing traps in everyone around him.

He dreams that he's back swimming in the Waterwood in 2Rs, with El and Min to either side of him, as if he has to choose. He can't love both of them. Why does love pop into his head? Avi appears on the bank and says he doesn't know who he loves. He offers to teach her to swim. On the opposite bank Lanfear laughs, naked, and asks why she should allow him to be unfaithful to her even in his dreams as Min and El and Avi disappear.

Rand struggles to get away from her, when a man's voice asks if this is how she amuses herself, and why she's risking their plan this way. She says he fears risk as much as Moghedien, the Spider herself.(2) He says if he must take risks, he wants a greater reward, then disappears. Lanfear disappears as well, and Rand wakes.

Aviendha is in the room with him, and after some soft discussion where she accidentally gives away that the Wise Ones are watching Rand's dreams, he senses something wrong. He calls his fire sword, and goes to find the wrongness: a Draghkar,(3) feeding on the gai'shain woman he met earlier. He kills the Draghkar, and Avi says the woman is dead.

Together, the two wake everyone, and the hold rushes to battle with remaining Darkspawn. Rand doesn't cover his face, saying they can't find him if they don't know where he is, and he finds some joke in it.(4)

PERSPECTIVE: Mat grumbles that Rand keeps dropping them both into trouble. He can't help but notice the battle tactics at play here, like Trollocs drawing people away from one end of the canyon so the Draghkar can attack Rand more freely.

He sees Rand coming up the canyon followed closely by Avi, stone-faced, and Moiraine, harassing Rand about trying to force prophecy. Rand asks what Moiraine wants, she wants him to confide in her. He asks that she promise not to hinder him if he tells her what he plans. She says she will not hinder his destiny, but she won't let him lay his head on a chopping block. That's not good enough for Rand.

Rhuarc says the Trollocs were a diversion, and no doubt they'll see Soulless next, or worse. He wants guards on Rand at all times. He adds that the Maidens have volunteered for the task, and will do better at it for being so eager, but they won’t be alone.

Mat asks if the Shaido could be any help, but Rhuarc says they left for Alcair Dal, possibly meaning to intercept Sevanna on her way to influence her against Rand. Rand says he must go now, then, he can't give Couladin a month to influence everyone else, even if it dishonours some of the chiefs.

After a moment, Rhuarc said, “Perhaps you are right. You bring change, Rand al’Thor. At sunrise, then. I will choose out ten Red Shields for my honor, and the Maidens will provide yours.” “I mean to be leaving when first light hits the sky, Rhuarc. With every hand that can carry a spear or draw a bow.” “Custom—” “There are no customs to cover me, Rhuarc.” You could have cracked rocks with Rand’s voice, or put a skim of ice on wine. “I have to make new customs.” [...] “Someone had best let the peddlers know,” Rand continued. “They won’t want to miss the fair, but if they don’t stop those fellows drinking they will be too drunk to handle reins. What of you, Mat? Are you coming?” He certainly did not intend to let the peddlers get away from him, not his way out of the Waste. “Oh, I am right behind you, Rand.” The worst of it was, it felt right saying that. Bloody ta’veren tugging at me! How had Perrin pulled free? Light, I wish I was with him right now. “I guess I am.”

=====

(1) Do you think she'll be picturing his face, or her until-recently-comrades, on those rugs? (2) There's the spider imagery with her. If I hadn't given her name when she showed up as herself, to tag her properly, I'd be pointing it out now. Also, this scene offers us some clues as to some identities. The blurry man is spending a lot of time with Lanfear, enough that he wonders where she's gone off to and finds her in Rand's dream. They're associating in the way of business partners. So, he's another Forsaken, and part of their plan is pulling Rand's strings. So, no more hiding that Keille and Jasin are Lanfear and… someone. There are only so many male Forsaken left, after all. Aginor, Balthamel, Be'lal, and Ishamael all appear to be dead. That leaves a whole list just as long (Rahvin, Demandred, Sammael, Asmodean) of possible names. What do we know about any of these? Well, Demandred has only been mentioned as one of the Forsaken in a glossary entry and a throwaway line in book 1. Sammael was last seen ruling in Illian and Moiraine seemed pretty confident of that. Rahvin's been mentioned three times so far this book, always right next to Sammael, if you want the best clue you're gonna get on what he might be up to. But, if you look back at chapter 9 really carefully, you might see Lanfear admit to who she's making plans with: she as good as begs Rand to kneel to the Dark One and let Asmodean teach him to channel with control, so that Rand and Lanfear can rule the world together, maybe even find a way to use the great sa'angreal (the statues with the crystal balls) to challenge the Dark One and the Creator himself. See, who needs to spoil you when you have the information, you just need to be able to remember it! (3) Hey, it's been a minute since we saw one of these! Well, two books, to be more accurate, I think. How did they find him, all the way out here? Well, there are two Forsaken next door, but why would Lanfear or Asmodean bring the evil creatures so close to themselves? (4) Here's where I admit, I'm not 100% on what the joke is either.

[birgittesilverbae]

I can't recall if we've had a vandene and/or adeleas casting leak but that water bucket moiraine is serving ch22 research sabbatical vibes for me (chanting under my breath: draghkar attack draghkar attack draghkar attack)

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Great Hunt! Chapter 22: Watchers

Spoiler alert: This post is not about the death metal band Draghkar or any other metal bands who are the kinds of nerds as to be fans of Wheel of Time, like Blind Guardian. It's about the books. Pretty sure that's all the spoiler alerts I need. Why would I even need to mention at this point that this post will have spoilers for the whole series?

This chapter has the dagger icon because Shadar Logoth is one of the subjects of Moiraine's research - and because it's the central revelation she has.

["]Nothing is happening as I expect,” Moiraine muttered, not expecting an answer from Lan.

Yep, delightful parallels between Rand and Moiraine.

No danger of pursuit here. No one would expect her to come here. Clear my head, and begin again, she thought. That is all there is to do.

And another parallel. Moiraine's just got twenty years of her epic quest to fuel her paranoia though, not all the craziness.

With the one equally aged Warder who remained to them, they lived quietly, still intending to write the history of the world since the Breaking, and as much as they could include of before. One day.

Yeah, the theme of this series means this particular mission is doomed to fail with another Age about to end. I wonder what all of the pre-Breaking history there is available to these ladies. Just the War of the Shadow, or anything more? Would any of it even be all that interesting, or just some random list of leaders pre-LTT, none of whom had anything to report in the glory days of the AoL?

This was a subject neither of them ever mentioned; nearly twenty years ago she had told him—with all the stiff pride of one still young enough to be called young, she recalled—that she would never speak of it again and expected the same silence of him.

So first of all, their first meeting is awesome and I can't wait to get back to New Spring to take a look at it...

But also, note another weakness of the Oath Rod. Moiraine really didn't intend to bring it up again at the time, so she could say that, but her mind has naturally changed since. She never lied, but what she said has turned out not to be true.

“I was young,” she repeated. “And does your bond chafe after all these years? You are not a man to wear a leash easily, even so light a one as mine.” It was a stinging comment; she meant it to be so.

I don't like this part. Moiraine's upbringing really made her casually cruel sometimes.

“Before we left Tar Valon I made arrangements, should anything happen to me, for your bond to pass to another.”

And I hate this detail too. People shouldn't have their relationships reassigned by someone else's whims. It's a good example of the casual sexism of Tar Valon and how things are forever changing but staying the same - plenty of real life women have been remarried without their consent on the loss of their first husband.

I will not allow you to die in a useless attempt to avenge me. And I will not allow you to return to your equally useless private war in the Blight. The war we fight is the same war, if you could only see it so, and I will see that you fight it to some purpose.

I get where she's coming from and why it must be done but also damn it's cruel to treat people like this.

“I had never thought,” he said slowly, “that I might not be the first of us to die. Somehow, even at the worst, it always seemed. . . .”

Sadly, bro is probably right, since both he and Moiraine survive to the end.

“What I do is for your own good, and perhaps it may be for another’s, as well. It may be that Myrelle will find a slip of a girl just raised to sisterhood—was that not what you said?—who needs a Warder hardened in battle and wise in the ways of the world, a slip of a girl who may need someone who will throw her into a pond. You have much to offer, Lan, and to see it wasted in an unmarked grave, or left to the ravens, when it could go to a woman who needs it would be worse than the sin of which the Whitecloaks prate. Yes, I think she will have need of you.”

Okay but Moiraine said all this happened before they last left Tar Valon and unless I'm crazy mistaken, they haven't been to TV since before book 1 started (if the timeline is right it's only 10 days since she left the party so it's not like she somehow outraced a boat and then got here), which was before Nynaeve was even in the picture. So at this point I have to wonder: did Moiraine's unseen encounters with Min inspire all of these decisions? She very specifically avoids answering Lan's question about foreseeing her death in a straightforward way.

“Why did you do as you did with Rand?” He blinked; it was obviously not what he expected. She knew what he had thought was coming, and she would not let up now that he was off balance.

It says a great deal about Moiraine's unhealthy Cairhienien worldviews that the real threat in her eyes is not Lan's affection for Nynaeve but for his helping the boy they've spent the last two decades trying to find and help. All because he's not helping according to the script. That's what makes all of this justified in her eyes.

“Ta’veren,” Moiraine sighed. “Perhaps it was that. Rather than guiding a chip floating down a stream, I am trying to guide a log through rapids. Every time I push at it, it pushes at me, and the log grows larger the farther we go. Yet I must see it through to the end.”

Honestly, I think it's a lot more about who Rand and Lan are as people than it is about a magic power manipulating Lan. A nudge from the Wheel, maybe, but... Not destiny outright cheating.

Much more likely Rand's ta'veren keeps Moiraine from ever realizing she can't play him until it's too late to matter.

“All men dream. But I know dreams for dreams. This”—he touched his sword hilt—“is reality.”

I wonder what the Aiel would say if they knew their much-respected Lan was saying something like this. Was Jordan setting up the Aiel worldview already with this contrast, or is it just a funny coincidence?

“So many subjects. The Trolloc Wars. The Watchers Over the Waves. The legend of the Return. Two treatises on the Horn of Valere. Three on dark prophecy, and—Light, here’s Santhra’s book on the Forsaken. Nasty, that. As nasty as this on Shadar Logoth. And the Prophecies of the Dragon, in three translations and the original. Moiraine, whatever are you after? The Prophecies, I can understand—we hear some news here, remote as we are. We hear some of what’s happening in Illian. There’s even a rumor in the village that someone has already found the Horn.”

Moiraine is not at all subtle; she clearly was counting on the privacy she requested. Vandene has probably put together a good deal more than she's admitting. Also note that the books on the Forsaken and Shadar Logoth are EQUALLY nasty, more foreshadowing for that.

“No. Except for the fact that the Horn must be found before Tarmon Gai’don and that the Dragon Reborn is supposed to fight the Last Battle, there is no link between them at all.”

And indeed, once this book is over Rand will have nothing to do with the Horn again.

But I believe it means the Dragon Reborn will appear somewhere above Toman Head, in Arad Doman, or Saldaea.

Vandene is of course confusing "above" with "north", which apparently means that 3A maps - and possibly AoL maps as well - have oriented north consistently for some time. Here in the first age, maps used to have "east" atop them (hence "the Orient" describing the east), so it's not a given as Jordan and Vandene assume.

In full, you will have to stay here a month and listen to Adeleas lecture—she has the true knowledge of it—but even I can tell you there���s nothing of the Dragon in it.

I think the reason that Shadar Logoth didn't show up in the prophecies is that revealing its true purpose to the Shadow would ensure Ish destroyed it prematurely somehow, if by no other mechanism than throwing massive armies of Trollocs in until the two evils canceled out.

“If I did,” Moiraine replied levelly, “would I be here, instead of in the White Tower? The Amyrlin knows as much as I, that I swear. Have you received a summons from her?”

Here Moiraine doesn't rely entirely on evasion because Vandene could see right through that, but she does mislead with her leading questions well enough.

“If I thought it would do any good, I’d pull Adeleas’s nose out of her book and set off for the White Tower. But I find I am glad to be here where I am instead. Perhaps we will have time to finish our history.”

It's always so sad knowing what's going to happen to these people.

An answer, or a hint to an answer, for a question she had not asked—but she could not bring the question to mind, either.

Presumably that Mordeth is looking for a soul to steal in Shadar Logoth - or rather, that he already has stolen a soul. Otherwise why would this chapter have the dagger icon specifically?

A shadow loomed dimly only a few paces from her, a shadow that appeared to be a too-tall man wrapped in his cloak. But the face caught the moon, gaunt-cheeked, pale, with black eyes too big above a puckered, red-lipped mouth. The cloak opened, unfolding into great wings like a bat’s.

Really I'm surprised that Moiraine let her guard down, even for a moment. I guess she was counting on being able to sense it and it not being warded, but again: she's actually properly paranoid.

But even as she began, Lan cried out, “Embrace death!” Jaem echoed him firmly. “Embrace death!” And the two men stepped within reach of the Draghkar’s touch, drove home their blades to the hilt.

It's so sad that Moiraine thinks she needs to test Lan at all when he's still got this going. Dude knows his job and he really is just as married to it as she.

It's also sad that this is what Lan's got at the moment.

Moiraine said the words none of them wanted to hear. “The Black Ajah.”

It's practically uncharacteristic of Moiraine to be so open. She must assume Jaem's good behavior proves their innocence even though proper paranoia would suggest that the most likely Black Ajah candidates are right in front of her. They're not of course, but still.

Adeleas turned to study the Draghkar as if it were a puzzling passage in one of her books. “Whether Aes Sedai are involved or not, whatever could have brought it here?” Vandene regarded Moiraine silently.

If you can't say anything but uncomfortable and revealing truths, don't speak at all I guess.

That's it for this chapter! Next time: A trip to off-brand McDonald's!

[amemoryofwot]

Borderlander Chappell Roan be like you can kiss but only one Draghkar

vehicular manslaughter chappell roan be like you can hit a hundred boys with cars

[norteenlinea]

Nameless Grave Records & Sunshine Ward Productions Proudly Presents: A Glorious Call in the Terrible Darkness by Draghkar / Helcaraxë

http://dlvr.it/T75Z7g

[wot-tidbits]

Winternight

Dumai's Wells

Road to Taren Ferry

by Arsenije Kojic

[cannoli-reader]

Everyone knows Brandon Sanderson saved WoT readers from having to read descriptions. And also think. In fact he actively discourages the latter.

When he thinks he is being clever, he has people worry about Draghkar flying up through a horizontal gateway and piling up corpses outside it. Because they are going to pass through the gateway, die, and then continue flying up, while dead, and then turn at a right angle so they land on the ground next to the gateway. Instead of flying through, dying as soon as their head crosses the plane, and then dropping straight back down. hE Is sO cLeVEr wItH hIs mAgIc SySteMs!

When he is trying to write normally, he has an Aes Sedai enter her tent and be surprised to find her warder in the tent. The warder then looks up and is surprised to see his Aes Sedai in the tent with him. Because A. warders are ever surprised at someone approaching them and B. the bond is not a thing? Not that we should be surprised, because it's the third book in a row where a member of an Aes Sedai-warder pair wonders what the other is feeling.

You can poo-poo the character arcs he butchered, the hideously OoC dialogue that he uses in place of narration, and say "why can't you just be happy we got the ending?" but the answer is "because the ending trilogy requires you to literally turn off your brain and pretend you never read a book without Sanderson's grubby fingerprints on it!"

When Jordan writes a character saying or doing something stupid, you are pretty sure that you are intended to recognize the diegetic stupidity. When Brandon Sanderson has a man think that a Power-made device that makes you hard to see and Power-granted physical enhancements are "not the way of the Warder," you have no idea if the guy who says this is intended to be depicted as a fucking moron, or if the author has forgotten that Warders have fancloth cloaks and a Power-made bond, that he persists in emphasizing the physical enhancements, as opposed to the knowledge of the bonding partner that takes precedence in Books 4-11.

Thinking about Avienda’s vision in the glass columns from Towers of Midnight again and I decided to double check something that seemed weird to me- the timeline for this is a complete mess.

So, Padre and her siblings are all adults when they decide to go to war with Seanchen- let’s be generous and say they’re young adults in their twenties. By this point apparently Tuon is already dead/deposed since according to Padre, Tuon was amiable to talks about returning the wise ones to the aiel but the current empress isn’t. Which means it’s not Tuon. That’s a quick turn around to begin with since Tuon is only in her early twenties when the last battle occurs. So roughly twenty years post tarmengedon Tuon is no longer Empress and either her and Mat’s daughter or some other Seanchen high blood who staged a coup is currently ruling and is far less reasonable than Tuon.

Next we see is Oncala, who is Padre’s daughter, she is also an adult which makes sense given that this is roughly sixty years after Tarmengedon, except for the fact that it’s Elayne’s GRANDDAUGHTER on the Lion Throne. Elayne like Tuon was around twenty during Tarmengedon, she’d be eighty, which may seem like a lot except for the fact that she’s a channeler who can comfortably live to one hundred with zero issues- not to mention she NEVER TOOK THE THREE OATHS, so she could comfortably live to over a thousand years old without looking a day over sixty. But we could argue Elayne might’ve stepped down to go be with Rand or smth in retirement- except why is it her granddaughter and not her daughter on the Lion Throne who would only be sixty which is young even for channeler who did take the three oaths!

Like yes we could argue Tuon’s short reign was caused by assassination since it’s so common in Seanchen, you could even argue for Elayne only ruling for sixty years but there’s absolutely no way it would be her granddaughter in that short of time.

[chloristoflora]

"This talking to wolves," Perrin said uneasily. "It... it has to do with the Power?"

"Of course not," Elyas growled. "Wouldn't have worked on me, gentling, but it made me mad, them wanting to try. This is an old thing, boy. Older than Aes Sedai. Older than anybody using the One Power. Old as humankind. Old as wolves. They don't like that either, Aes Sedai. Old things coming again. I'm not the only one. There are other things, other folk. Makes Aes Sedai nervous, makes them mutter about ancient barriers weakening. Things are breaking apart, they say. They're afraid the Dark One will get loose, is what. You'd think I was to blame, the way some of them looked at me. Red Ajah, anyway, but some others, too. The Amyrlin Seat... Aaaah! I keep clear of them, mostly, and clear of friends of Aes Sedai, as well. You will, too, if you're smart."

"I'd like nothing better than to stay away from Aes Sedai," Perrin said.

Egwene gave him a sharp look. He hoped she would not burst out that she wanted to be an Aes Sedai. But she said nothing, though her mouth tightened, and Perrin went on.

"It isn't as if we have a choice. We've had Trollocs chasing us, and Fades, and Draghkar. Everything but Darkfriends. We can't hide, and we can't fight back alone. So who is going to help us? Who else is strong enough, except Aes Sedai?"

Elyas was silent for a time, looking at the wolves, most often at Dapple or Burn. Perrin shifted nervously and tried not to watch. When he watched he had the feeling that he could almost hear what Elyas and the wolves were saying to one another. Even if it had nothing to do with the Power, he wanted no part of it. He had to be making some crazy joke. I can't talk to wolves. One of the wolves — Hopper, he thought — looked at him and seemed to grin. He wondered how he had put a name to him.

The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time #1, Chapter 23: Wolfbrother)

[amemoryofwot]

TDR wrap up under cut! (In no particular order)

Not to be a Lan hater on main again but man if anyone is to be accused of being overwritten show screen time vs book screen time it’s him. Rand’s Fal Dara sword training aside, in TGH he just like fights with Moiraine for two pages, kills a Draghkar, then yells at Perrin a bit in TDR and refuses again when Moiraine tries to send him away pre-Darkhound showdown. Once again hoping Alanna’s S2 was enough of his LoC storyline and he can just go straight to Nynaeve. I guess we’re also missing him giving his ring to Nynaeve which like I’m sure will be S3 now that they’re back in the same place.

Speaking of Nynaeve somebody threw out it seems like we’re getting her unsure FoH self in S2 which I think is fair. She’s written as much more confident and competent between TGH/TDR than S2, but I think that’s due to her experiencing that moment of losing control of a situation earlier. In the books it’s post-Birgitte/Moggy showdown that she becomes so anxious and fearful but in the show her trauma in the circle at the end of S1 is that catalyst. So it will be interesting to see how she reacts to that same book scene in show (season …4? lol)

I am Team Not Going Back To The Tower in S3 but there’s such lovely character moments between Siuan and the kids I will be disappointed to miss. I’m liking Caemlyn as a centre point as well so perhaps there’s some way to mash these together? Siuan attempting to soothe Morgase over Elayne going missing? Mat being there somehow? Mats luck streak happening in Caemlyn instead of Tar Valon? Again, I do not envy the writers having to rework this series, there are SO many moving parts to consider.

Mats luck is one outstanding TDR item to address in S3 (please I need it) as well as Dreaming. Like we do really need the ter’angreal ring. I suppose we could find it in Falme with Turak’s curiosities, or even in Tanchico. Nynaeve seems to share a bit of Elayne’s ability to read ter’angreal so maybe they won’t even need someone to give it to them, if they find it they can figure out what it does while Egwene is a natural Dreamer.

There is such a HUGE personality shift in Rand between TGH and TDR, I think all he went through in S2 is really going to crash down on him and reflect that transition on screen rather than inferred between books.

I do genuinely find these books and RJ’s writing quite funny at times and I hope the writing can lean into that more. Like sorry GoT has ruined everything and we need to be Serious and Dark to be considered good now but WoT is my silly little series with my silly little guys getting into situations and there can be room for that too.

[iviarellereads]

The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 22 - Birdcalls by Night

(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.)

(Trolloc icon) In which I have an inappropriate chuckle.

PERSPECTIVE: Mat is getting a backrub from Melindhra, who calls him "cute" for how short he is among Aiel. He remembers being tall, as memories of various heroes of ages past come to him.

Eventually they hear birdcalls, chosen by Rand because they're birds that don't live anywhere near the Waste, signaling danger near their tent.

Before he can get dressed and out of the tent fully, Mat ducks a Trolloc scythe. He hears some Darkfriends calling "Sammael! Sammael and the Golden Bees!"(1) and engages in the battle. Even as he's killing Trollocs, he shouts that he's no hero and doesn't want to be mixed up in this.

The battle is soon over, and he realizes there were too few to hope to actually accomplish anything. He wonders why they made the attempt.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand doesn't go to the skirmish, and is instead attacked by two Draghkar, the real reason for the distraction in the south. He and Avi each take one out, though he thinks Avi was trying to hurt him until he sees the one behind him that she killed. The Maidens return, feeling shamed that they weren't there to protect him from the Draghkar, but he refuses to punish them for it.(2)

He goes to Asmo's tent, and quickly ascertains that Asmo had no part in this attack, but they discuss possible motives for hours to no avail. Though, at one point Rand slips and talks about something that happened to Lews Therin as "me", and hopes Asmo doesn't make the connection though he knows the man's too smart not to.

Rand goes back to his own tent, and the Maidens again seek to apologize, but he'll have none of it. He slips into bed and dreams of Avi standing next to Sammael, hurling fireballs at Rand.

=====

(1) What a goofy battle cry. But, the bees are the sigil of Illian. (2) Of course not. He'd rather they were anywhere BUT in danger.

[trollocks-in-my-bollocks]

yes!!!!!!! please write it

in Chapter 22 of The Fires of Heaven there's a Draghkar attack at the Aiel camp Moiraine simply *misses*. She arrives at the end in a sleeping gown and when Rand asks her where the hell she's been she gives him an Aes Sedai answer while looking somewhat flustered (this was written in Rand's POV mind). My personal headcanon is that maybe she was with Melanie. Or maybe just finally decided to have 8 hours of sleep. Both of these are wild, fanfiction-worthy concepts.

While I was reading The Shadow Rising, I came up with (what I assume is) a niche femslash ship and I need you guys to hear me out on this one: Melaine/Moiraine. (In case you don't remember, Melaine is the youngest of the three Wise Ones in TSR.)

I present as evidence the scene where Melaine, who doesn't know how to ride a horse because she's Aiel, climbs up on Aldieb and holds Moiraine around the waist so they can keep talking on the road. That's so cute! Also, Wise One/Aes Sedai is just a great dynamic. They're learning a lot from each other in those "heated discussions" (wink wink)

Also I think it's funny because their names are so similar. This ship has captivated me and I'll probably write a short fic about it at some point lol