2015 Re-Readalong: Eye of the World and The Great Hunt

Toral Delvar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Well, not out of nowhere. Lan has some good words for Nynaeve (when did she hear something like that for the last time from an Emondsfield man?) - and there is sheer physical attraction. I listed some instances above where Lan becomes important to Nynaeve (and that is an onset of love!), and at least at the end of the rescue operation - when Nynaeve seems to be missing - we see that she has become important to Lan too. They are still in competition mode then, and her "small laugh" said: "I got you one better". - For once, it's a bit subtle, but no surprise.
I just edited her page in the library to include all the details about her relationship with Lan in the first book. Maybe we'll pick up some more I missed before.
 

Toral Delvar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

A couple of other points
When Nynaeve meets up with Lan and Moiraine, we learn that Healing a person creates a permanent link with them, which is how she could find Egwene in Baerlon. Do we ever hear of this again? Are there instances where it could be happening, but isn't explicit
She also says she never gets sick (when she meets Perrin after his capture). Do we hear this again? Is it a general Aes Sedai/Power thing? Do we ever hear of any Channeler becoming sick?
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Can't remember that, so no I don't think so. If an Aes Sedai get sick, then it's because she's a wilder or got poisoned?
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

When Nynaeve meets up with Lan and Moiraine, we learn that Healing a person creates a permanent link with them, which is how she could find Egwene in Baerlon. Do we ever hear of this again? Are there instances where it could be happening, but isn't explicit.
I guess Jordan saw that this was a rather questionable idea and decided to bury it in silence. Must be rather inconvenient for a professional healer, btw.

She also says she never gets sick (when she meets Perrin after his capture). Do we hear this again? Is it a general Aes Sedai/Power thing? Do we ever hear of any Channeler becoming sick?
I can't remember this being said again, but likewise no sick channelers come to mind. They are vulnerable to all kinds of physical injuries (including heat, cold, poison - eg. snakebites, the Ashamen in ToM), but no common maladies, fevers etc. seem to touch them.
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Finished chapter "Flight down Arinelle" (I think it's chapter 24, but it's chapter 1 in book 2 of EotW.) There Domon is telling about the different landmarks and stuff around the WoT. Bit fun to know that they've been all those places or at least influcence them somehow, like the crystal sphere at Tremalking, Panarch Palace, the metal tower (Tower of Genji, spell like?)
 

Ashlyn Sindal

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

I just edited her page in the library to include all the details about her relationship with Lan in the first book. Maybe we'll pick up some more I missed before.

I've always assumed there were interactions between the two of them that happen "off screen." The conversation that...Rand, I think? overhears between them later certainly suggests it.
 

Megana Vallentin

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Oh yeah, I paid a lot more attention to that conversation than I had in the past! Before it was like "ugh history lesson/random mentions of places we'll never see" but a lot of them ended up being significant.
 

Toral Delvar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Yeah. Given that we only here brief snippets of their lives, there has to be a lot that happens off screen, but there is clearly some development of the relationship on screen
I'm not sure how much off screen though - we get of lot of Nynaeve complaining she and Lan barely speak, or that she can't get him away from Moiraine
 

Kassina Tendar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Lan said:
As much as I hope for Egwene's safety, Nynaeve, I fight against the Dark One, and for now that sets my path.
I love Lan and Moiraine! :pleased-1: And it's fun to watch Nynaeve and Lan's relationship in its first phases.

I think I'm one of the few people who actually was sad when Moiraine passed Lan's bond to Nynaeve. I mean, I love Nynaeve and Lan together and am so happy it worked out for them in the end, but apart from the weird ethical standpoint of passing someone's bond without them knowing :brown-blink: (even if it's to Nynaeve, that still always kinda struck me as rude to to do someone without their consent...), it always made me sad for Moiraine that she lost the connection she had with Lan. :( I know she did it willingly and obviously Nynaeve and Lan need to be bonded. Besides, Moiraine gets Thom. ;) But even so, it's a bit bittersweet to read these chapters with Lan and Moiraine, knowing that they won't always be bonded. Not sure if that's just me. :look: :cheeseeni:

Perrin said:
In stories leaders seldom finched, and they were never bullied. But, he reflected, they never had to deal with Egwene, either."
:rofl Poor Perrin. Though I do agree with Egwene that it makes the most sense for them to trade who rides Bela.

-Perrin meets Elyas and starts his looong journey to accept the wolf inside him. I enjoyed these chapters, but Perrin's wolf storyline has never been one of my favorites. I always felt like it dragged on and combined with how annoying Faile is later, Perrin's never my favorite character to read about... but is interesting reading this a second time and seeing how he reacts to the wolves and how early he starts communicating with them unconsciously. And Hopper. :cry

The spray made haste slowly down the Arinelle.
Ok..... (it does describe that Domon wants to make haste, but the conditions on the river are preventing him, but this sentence still made me :arch)

-I love the Tuatha'an! :D
Raen said:
The Aielmen avoid us, [...] though many of us have tried to speak with them. They watch us from a distance, but they will not come near us, nor let us come near them. Sometimes I worry that they might know the song, though I suppose it isn't likely. Among Aiel, men do not sing, you know? Isn't that strange? From the time an Aiel boy becomes a man he will not sing anything but battle chants, or their dirge for the slain. I have heard them singing over their dead, and over those they have killed. That song is one to make the stones weep.
This takes on a whole new meaning now. :brown-blink: And that last sentence made me shiver, coming from a Tuatha'an. Such songs must be so sad for them coming from their perspective of the Way of the Leaf where taking any life is anathema.

Tomorrow would be time enough to worry about the wolves again. He was wrong. They were waiting to greet him in his dreams.
And so it begins.

And Thom! :cry

We meet more people later who heard this story about the Dark One wanting to blind it. What was going on here? It was just a pool of pure saidin. Aginor goes for it as soon as he is free, so it seems likely Ishamael could have got it at any time. Was it just an elaborate trap - plant enough rumours and eventually one of them would draw the Dragon Reborn?
That confused me as well... I didn't remember anything that comes up later in the book about 'blinding' the Eye of the World. I have no idea what that could mean other than maybe one of the Forsaken trying to claim the Eye for themselves? And thus empty it (which could be seen as 'blinding' it).

You know, rereading this is reminding me how sorry I felt for poor Cloud. It irks me that the horse was given a name and personified then he is probably eaten by Trollocs.
Me, too! :( I kept wanting to find out what happened to Cloud. And Perrin's horse when he feel into the river. :(

A couple of other points
When Nynaeve meets up with Lan and Moiraine, we learn that Healing a person creates a permanent link with them, which is how she could find Egwene in Baerlon. Do we ever hear of this again? Are there instances where it could be happening, but isn't explicit
I wondered that as well. I don't think it ever comes up again later. :cheeseeni:

I guess Jordan saw that this was a rather questionable idea and decided to bury it in silence.
That would be my explanation as well.

Megana said:
Later on it feels like no matter where they go, people recognize an Aes Sedai face or ring, no matter how remote the place is.
Yes! This is something I kept wondering during the start of the book. I've never done a reread before now and so am not used to going back to square one. I'm so used to Aes Sedais' ageless faces being a dead giveaway (plus the great serpent ring). I could almost understand why people in the Two Rivers wouldn't be able to tell, but I was surprised that it held true in Baerlon as well. They introduced her as Lady Alys and were still able to, without too much effort except when they were leaving the city, hide that she was Aes Sedai. Not sure if the people in that region are just uncommonly unaware of Aes Sedai (they are far from Tar Valon, but so are places west of the Mountains of Mist and people there can still recognize Aes Sedai, right?), if my mind is playing tricks on me and people aren't actually that quick to pick up on Aes Sedai agelessness as I remember (it is true that we spend most of the series around people who are used to Aes Sedai and thus are used to noticing such things) or if Jordan's image of the world just evolved throughout the books.
 

Megana Vallentin

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

I could almost understand why people in the Two Rivers wouldn't be able to tell, but I was surprised that it held true in Baerlon as well.

Especially since Baerlon had Whitecloaks. If you're a big enough place to attract Whitecloaks, you'd think you'd be big enough to recognize Aes Sedai and Warder cloaks.
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Originally Posted by Raen The Aielmen avoid us, [...] though many of us have tried to speak with them. They watch us from a distance, but they will not come near us, nor let us come near them. Sometimes I worry that they might know the song, though I suppose it isn't likely. Among Aiel, men do not sing, you know? Isn't that strange? From the time an Aiel boy becomes a man he will not sing anything but battle chants, or their dirge for the slain. I have heard them singing over their dead, and over those they have killed. That song is one to make the stones weep.

This takes on a whole new meaning now. :brown-blink: And that last sentence made me shiver, coming from a Tuatha'an. Such songs must be so sad for them coming from their perspective of the Way of the Leaf where taking any life is anathema.

Wonder if they did find the song after the final battle? :brown-blink: Or are they still roaming the world looking for the song? I wonder if they would have found it if they ever did meet the Green Man before he lost his mind? :cheeseeni: Was the song the song of planting?
 

Toral Delvar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

I remember reading that they wouldn't recognise the song if they heard it - the song in their mythology is no longer the song they left the Aiel to find, and even that wasn't really an actual song, just an idea of one
 
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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

I remember reading that they wouldn't recognise the song if they heard it - the song in their mythology is no longer the song they left the Aiel to find, and even that wasn't really an actual song, just an idea of one

I remember this as well, and it made me incredibly sad. Of course, I realize that finding an ACTUAL song after all this time is very unrealistic (unless, as Imz Sedai said, they had encountered a Green Man) but the idea that their quest will be eternally unfulfilled is sad thought indeed. :(
 

Kassina Tendar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Mai said exactly what I was thinking. :(

I love the Tuatha'an and at least they seem especially anxious to find the song ASAP, but it's still sad to think that this song they think is out there probably isn't. Then again, they've built up this idea of the song for so long that it would be hard for any actual song to do it justice. Maybe it is better to just have it be an ideal in their heads that gives them a reason to keep wandering.
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Yeah, this make me sad...

I don't think they would handle to settle down and live in cities, not with the Way of Leaf....
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

The thing is that "The Song" was found - I'm sure I read somewhere that it's the song Rand is singing at the start of um... AMoL, I think it is. But as others have said, the Travelling People wouldn't have recognised it as the song they sought even if they had been there :( It's almost as though their "search for the song" becomes just a reason for them to keep moving, more than an active search.

Oh, and Moiraine doesn't pass Lan's bond to Nynaeve... She sets up for it to pass to um.. Myrelle (?) when she dies (or in her case, falls through the door to the realm of the Aelfin/Eelfin). He remains bonded to Myrelle for AGES (even after he's been travelling with Nynaeve). Nynaeve doesn't get his bond officially until she passes her Aes Sedai test, and then it's pretty much the first thing she does :laugh:

Regarding the ageless face thing... I'm not sure Moiraine had the truly, full-on ageless look yet. I mean, I don't think she looked as old as she is, but it's not like she's creeping up for 100 or anything. She's only an Accepted when Rand is born. So it's possible she's just beginning to take it on, which gives the moments where people think things like "He'd thought she was as young as he, but on reflection she then seemed older" or whatever it is Rand thinks. Which would possibly explain why she's not instantly identifiable as an Aes Sedai.
 

Kassina Tendar

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Oh, and Moiraine doesn't pass Lan's bond to Nynaeve... She sets up for it to pass to um.. Myrelle (?) when she dies (or in her case, falls through the door to the realm of the Aelfin/Eelfin). He remains bonded to Myrelle for AGES (even after he's been travelling with Nynaeve). Nynaeve doesn't get his bond officially until she passes her Aes Sedai test, and then it's pretty much the first thing she does :laugh:
Oh, thanks for the clarification! I knew there was a reason I was doing a reread. :laugh: So does Moiraine come back from Aelfinn/Eelfinn Land after Nynaeve's already bonded to him?

And that's a good point about Moiraine's agelessness! I'd forgotten how young she is.
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

I forget the exact timing of it, as I've not read the last 2 books as often as the preceding ones. Nynaeve takes the full test to the Raised, and then marches off to find Myrelle and snatches the Bond off her. I don't know ifi Mat and Thom have rescued Moiraine by then, or if the rescue attempt is happening at roughly the same period of time.

Regardless though, I don't think Moiraine ever intended that Nynaeve would not have Lan's bond. Myrelle has been known to "save" Warders after their Aes Sedai die, and Moiraine wants to make sure Lan doesn't kill himself trying to avenge her. I'm sure Myrelle makes some comment at some point about how she was basically trying to tame him in order to make him safe/suitable for a new Aes Sedai (namely, Nynaeve). Moiraine tells Lan about the bond shift which will happen when she dies during book 2, by which point the Nynaeve/Lan thing is well underway. I'm not sure if that's just when she tells him about something which was set up far in the past, or if it's something she does when she vanishes on the road from Shienar to Tar Valon. If it's the latter, I can quite see her plotting that far ahead to make sure that Nynaeve will have Lan's bond :look:
 

Imzadi Hopewind

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

*nodnods* That's what Myrelle said, when Nynaeve yell her out. She explained why she kept Lan hidden etc, and yes, she did for sure pass the bond over once Nynaeve passed the test... I was so happy when she did! Finally she wouldn't be called child anymore :pleased-1:
 

Ashlyn Sindal

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Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Moiraine tells Lan about the bond shift which will happen when she dies during book 2, by which point the Nynaeve/Lan thing is well underway. I'm not sure if that's just when she tells him about something which was set up far in the past, or if it's something she does when she vanishes on the road from Shienar to Tar Valon. If it's the latter, I can quite see her plotting that far ahead to make sure that Nynaeve will have Lan's bond :look:

When Moiraine tells Lan, she says she arranged for it last time they were at the White Tower, so it must have been before they went to Emond's Field. I've always wondered if something Min said the first time they met prompted her to do that. It's pretty clear from the little we get of Myrelle's POV that she had an idea of who Moiraine intended her to eventually pass Lan's bond to, and it's unclear how that came about.
 
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