#draghkar

[wot-tidbits]

Raven by eismesser

Gate by eismesser

Bond by eismesser

Throne by eismesser

Grolm by eismesser

Talent by eismesser

Shadowspawn by eismesser

[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

[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!

[sanctificetur]

nerissa said to rand the horses were a friend to the faerie, the other hesitant to trust as it reminded him of the draghkar. windspear had finished chewing grass just moments before, and was now walking towards where they were sitting by the campfire ;; its black iris yellow eye staring at the red-haired human.

rand sees, his hand reaching for his brown bow with a golden finch bird emblazoned square ( white feathered arrow still notched ), in cautious stance. seeing the monster — horse, he remembers — trot over to kieran.

mat, egwene, and moirane were huddled around the campfire too, still recovering from their long trekking and fighting with monsters, including trollocs. as they are walking, unbeknownst to them, a trolloc with purple hair named aesop was walking nearby on another path — aesop guising himself a bit like an elf yet perhaps someone might know he’s a trolloc from one of the various clans so he had to be careful. their feet quite exhausted from running wild — finding the forest at the end of caemlyn road.

they had bumped into aesop, nonetheless, rand being startled, yet not nearly as enraged and determined ; tears of fury as when he saw the horse windspear. and they talked, aesop being rather melancholic and while not really friendly, was not like what rand imagined all trollocs to be like. his girlfriend, soleil had a silver cross with blue cornflowers painted on them, a guiding light of hope, which he had given her. and he had a sun necklace with ‘ soleil ‘ on it received from her.

rand says, ‘ would you like to join us? we are finding someplace to rest for the day. ‘

aesop nods, ‘ yes, I would, thank you. ‘ and they continue walking down the street.

now at the campfire ground, which aesop also joined, mat sees the yacht rand had placed onto the wood, as he shivers slightly in his black jacket worn over a loose grey shirt — ‘ it’s a little chilly ‘ ;; it reminding him of a lamp at an inn he and his friends once went to during their long trek. he is also wearing a scarf so the deep scar on his neck from fighting doesn’t sting in the cold icy wind.

as he sits on the grass with rand, green bushes nearby that looked like yellow pollen from flowers. he had heard whispers about the cold peace there in the inn, and to look out for faeries 🧚, he remembering not being sure whether to believe in them. his black hair curls around his forehead, the cold beading there as it had been raining during their trek.

[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

[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.

[norteenlinea]

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

http://dlvr.it/T75Z7g

[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.

[wot-tidbits]

Winternight

Dumai's Wells

Road to Taren Ferry

by Arsenije Kojic

[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.

[apocalypticavolition]

Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 12: Across the Taren

Another day, another chapter of The Wheel of Time. As usual, my reread commentary will be chock full of spoilers, much like a turducken is full of desecrated poultry. Those of you who respect livestock or fear having your first reading (or viewing) experience ruined should go elsewhere, possibly a hippie commune without meat eating or internet.

If anyone is still left (and shame on you for hating birds, btw), we can begin by discussing the chapter icon. This chapter introduces a new one, the yin - except it looks like yang but mirrored - to the Dragon's Fang yang (except it looks like yin but mirrored). Don't know if Jordan intended for each of them to be a little of both or if like every other westerner he just couldn't keep it straight. Anyway, it's the Flame of Tar Valon! Where the Fang stands for male channeling and channelers, the Flame stands for the ladies. In this case, it's a representation of Moiraine's cold pragmatism.

Rand moved stiffly from the ache of the long ride, wondering if there was any way he could walk the rest of the way to Tar Valon.

Rand will eventually walk to Tar Valon, but he'll start a lot closer.

“You must handle it,” Moiraine said in answer to something unheard from Lan. “He will remember too much as it is, and no help for it. If I stand out in his thoughts. . . .”

Odd choice of words there. Were Myrdraal supposed to be mind readers on top of everything else?

Egwene marched along without a word, her back straight and her head high. It was a somewhat painfully hesitant march, to be sure, for she was as unused to riding as the rest. She was getting her adventure, he thought glumly, and as long as it lasted he doubted if she would notice little things like fog or damp or cold.

Rand, I'm pretty sure Egwene is deliberately stiff because she's noticing the inclement weather and she's trying to power through it.

Rand hurriedly copied the Warder’s pose—at least insofar as putting his hand on his sword. He did not think he could achieve that deadly-seeming slouch. They’d probably laugh if I tried.

Not yet Rand, but you'll get there. And note that Lan trusted you to understand what to do if he fiddled with Perrin's stance, but not the other way around. After the hay loft incident, Rand's definitely the one Lan likes the most.

A low, delighted laugh floated from Moiraine. Egwene clapped as if watching a performance at Festival, then stopped and looked abashed, though her mouth twitched with a smile just the same.

Good to know that Egwene is just as stupid as the boys at heart. Shame they didn't give her literally any kind of weapon to join in the showing off how tough they were. Lan, Thom, we all know you have back-up knives, so I am blaming Jordan's sexism for this. Girl needs something in case she gets taken out by Shadowspawn.

Hightower muttered half under his breath, growling for them to keep the horses still and stay to the center, out of the haulers’ way. He shouted at his helpers, chivvying them as they readied the ferry to cross, but the men moved at the same reluctant speed whatever he said, and he was halfhearted about it, often cutting off in mid-shout to hold his torch high and peer into the fog. Finally he stopped shouting altogether and went to the bow, where he stood staring into the mist that covered the river. He did not move until one of the haulers touched his arm; then he jumped, glaring.

There's something delightfully like a horror movie about all of this, as if the draghkar might descend upon them at any moment and they all know that something's out there, even if the Ferry folk don't know what.

With the fog to hide them . . . well, when what they do is hidden, men sometimes deal with strangers in ways they wouldn’t if there were other eyes to see. And the quickest to harm a stranger are the soonest to think a stranger will harm them.

Lan, you're the one who was worried about being robbed so you had everyone show off their mad skills. You also jump from "This dude would sell his mom to Trollocs", to "Can you really see this guy ferrying the Trollocs over for gold?" It's... really the kind of thing that doesn't stand out right now, but keeps you and Moiraine sketchier a lot longer than you should be.

The ferryman hesitated, face pushed forward as if he smelled danger, but at the mention of silver the haulers roused themselves. Some paused to seize a torch, but they all thumped down the ramp before Hightower could open his mouth. With a sullen grimace, the ferryman followed his crew.

Poor Hightower is just clever enough to understand what's up but not capable enough to avert his fate. Moiraine wrecks his shit.

For a moment Hightower stared at the gold, glinting in Lan’s hand in the torchlight, then his shoulders hunched and his eyes darted to the others he had carried across. Made indistinct by the fog, the Emond’s Fielders stood silently. With a frightened, inarticulate cry, the ferryman snatched the coins from Lan, whirled, and ran into the mist. His haulers were only half a step behind him, their torches quickly swallowed as they vanished upriver.

Frankly if it weren't for a mention in a later chapter, I'd assume they were all eaten by Trollocs as soon as the gang was away. The haulers may well have been.

“You all want explanations, but if I explained my every action to you, I would have no time for anything else.”

No Moiraine, if you people talked to each other, you'd have the Dark One sealed up again in seven books instead of fourteen! That said, Jordan uses a good trick in this section: by highlighting one apparent oddity in Moiraine's plan and explaining it, the reader assumes that anything else they might think of might also have a good explanation, especially since most won't know all the rules of the setting yet. Further, it's not hard to infer that Moiraine is making sure that any river crossing done by the Shadow is done slowly - and if you don't infer that, you continue to have reservations about her like the characters are about to.

“You expected us to stop here?” Egwene said in surprise. “It seemed a likely place,” Lan replied. “I like to be prepared, just in case.”

On the way to Emond's Field from Baerlon, Lan set up sixty-two possible nap spots. Only one was discovered, and since it was by a rabbit, the mission remained uncompromised.

“Oh, they can still run. They will run at their fastest, if we let them, right up to the second they drop dead from exhaustion they never even felt. I would rather Moiraine Sedai had not had to do what she did, but it was necessary.”

Good magic has trade-offs, and here's the weave that Moiraine was using's flaw: it affects the horse's awareness but does jack shit about their actual condition. And even that leaves her personally exhausted when she's bragging about how she's literally in the Tower's top ten power users. Since Rand isn't too weary, just stiff, it makes me think he didn't do quite the same thing as her.

“And you really think I can learn?” Egwene asked. Her face shone with eagerness. Rand had never seen her look so beautiful, or so far away from him. “I can become an Aes Sedai?” Rand jumped up, cracking his head against the low roof of logs. Thom Merrilin grabbed his arm, yanking him back down. “Don’t be a fool,” the gleeman murmured. He eyed the women—neither seemed to have noticed—and the look he gave Rand was sympathetic. “It’s beyond you now, boy.”

Unspoken: "Be grateful it's a woman she's found who can channel, and not a man."

I wonder if Thom thinks that the reason Bela isn't tired is because Egwene was channeling. Moiraine wouldn't think this because she would have sensed it, but Thom's got every reason to make that assumption right now - including denial about Rand when he must have ideas about why the Shadowspawn are here.

Men like those of whom the Aes Sedai spoke were rare—he had only heard of three in his whole life, and thank the Light never in the Two Rivers—but the damage they did before the Aes Sedai found them was always bad enough for the news to carry, like the news of wars, or earthquakes that destroyed cities.

I saw recently some Tumblr users questioning this because the Two Rivers is so strong in the power it should be producing male sparkers. Later on Rand or another EF5 POV will reflect on how there were a few dudes who just went weird, so it seems that in the Two Rivers they either get the taint so quick they don't have a chance to be harmful, or they start channeling but can't get the knack and die.

The old blood is strong in Emond’s Field, and the old blood sings.

You all are super heavily inbred. That's literally the only way this makes sense in Jordan's world because there's absolutely no reason for bloodlines to special otherwise.

“Of course not,” Moiraine snapped. “Things do not have the Power, child. Even an angreal is only a tool. This is just a pretty blue stone. But it can give off light. Here.”

There's plenty of ter'angreal that manipulate the Power, so Moiraine's being pretty snippy here. I'll assume she's too tired to consider the bigger picture beyond her lesson; she can't do the usual "lies we tell to elementary schoolers to be replaced by lies we tell to high schoolers" etc. gig because she can't lie.

“Now you are behaving like a foolish village girl. Most who come to Tar Valon must study for many months before they can do what you just did. You may go far. Perhaps even the Amyrlin Seat, one day, if you study hard and work hard.”

F- f- foreshadowing! Everyone's got some now! In exactly twenty months, Egwene will be raised to the Amyrlin Seat. Hopefully it won't take me quite so long to get there even at this rate, and more hopefully Rand stops rooting for his friends to fail because he is not happy about this at all. But we can deal with his unhappiness next time, because this is another chapter finished.

[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

[sanctificetur]

kieran was rather wary of rand, having seen the red-haired boy hold his bow with a white feathered arrow aimed to his direction — a shot to the heart. he had seen the sight rather clearly, light splintering through. he did not recognise this boy as one of the wild hunt. yet he had come to the hunt later on than mark, his father — the unseelie king — placing him there as a sign of good faith.

rand looks cautiously at windspear, who was now chewing on grass a little distance away, still strongly thinking it may be a monster out to savage him to pieces. trollocs could come in different shapes and sizes after all. although he had met an ogier once who he assumed to be a trolloc in first appearance.

the horse flicks its tail restlessly while chewing, sensing rand’s presence and not liking him at all — this human almost shot me! it decided to have its eye on him all the while, black iris shadowing its yellow.

peering closer to windspear from where he was, as mark expands further on about the horses, rand is still scared although his breathing and heartbeat was a little more steady.

he then thinks about the time he saw a draghkar — having thought it was a giant bat at first, similar and swift in body and movement to this horse ; thom had described whom the creature was, referencing the war that had formed nichevo’ya darkness.

as mark explains to kieran that rand was not a threat, he thinks to their time together so far with gathering and building from wood.

rand had said to him, eyes sparking in interest and a little more at ease with the other’s presence, ‘ what is the wild hunt like? and living in the forest seems peaceful. ‘ as he starts pinning cloth to a wood pyre, it looked like a miniature yacht — shining a light yellow. a fair bit of the wood gathered in the forest and on the pyre was quite peeling desolate, as the forest had suffered an ongoing onslaught of drought and flood for over a year — the darkness having insidiously blackened the tracery of the bark. yet they made do with the best they could — finally finished with the chore of gathering — searching, searching forevermore. and now they were just building from where they are right now.

mark reminiscences about the other’s question, of the hunt. the crudely carved runes on his back — along with whipping him — done by some of the darker fey when he initially came in still both ached harshly and left him quite hollow simultaneously — Shadowhunters and faeries not liking each other by nature. they had also punched his jaw, filling his mouth with blood, and when he held out an arm to defend himself, they continued on until…until he was crumpled inert on the white snowy field. the wounds had left scars…

the hunt had also brought out a wild freedom sprinkling through his veins, with the riding through the colours of the sky. yet kieran… he had helped bring out the colour in this raw cruel but beautiful wilderness. he remembered he was quite shaky in speaking to kieran at first — perhaps more so? he was a gentry of the unseelie after all. he supposed kieran had seemed sometimes cruel, yet he had also helped him feel less scared ; explaining a bit more about the faerie customs and helping him adjust to their ways ( ‘ don’t fall into the water, ‘ kieran says, smiling a little ).

kieran’s photo of him looking down at the forest in reminiscencing thought stayed with him too.

the reddening dusk now slowly shone to a light purple, as it grew darker — the sunset deepening to the horizon.

‘ the forest can be quite peaceful,’ mark says after a moment, in his pause for reflection. ‘ and the hunt can be as well, with riding through the sky with them. ‘

rand sees the turmoil mark is in, wondering about what exactly happened. it was a struggle for rand to understand how these horses — especially of draghkar — monsters that had killed many men — would be trusted by the fey…whom looked like himself and others ; yet were they human or not? yet mark was human, despite also being fey ( the dark war was known relatively well to him, heard upon travelling — and hearing stories about life within lands quite often. and remembering about the cold peace, and hearing all fey were mean and selfish. )

he had discovered over the course of knowing him, that mark was quite nice in his own settling into chat with him — as more of an understanding that he was the only one who understands in exploring and is in complete embodiment of his custom.