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

[Imzadi Hopewind]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

About Bryar: I think he hates Perrin because he killed 2 of Whitecloaks before he was stopped?

About Gode: I think it's because Rand and Mat dreamt about being marked by the Dark One, so it somehow give a connections with the Darkfriends? Same as the coin Moiraine gave them, so she felt connected to the boys?

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

I think Moiraine says, when she arrived in Caemlyn, that Darkfriends and others should be able to feel that dagger and it's evil from far away... She wonders how they even got so far, carrying the dagger...

 

[Wil Cambrae]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

It's sad reading about Aram in the books now after seeing what became of him. :/

I'm not sure if it was these chapters or the ones before, but to me the Tinker's search for the song was a metaphor that some later generations took literally. Looking for a return to the time when the Aiel would sing with the Ogier and the Nym to help the crops grow.

As for Elyas's reasons for hurrying, I believe he had a wolf dream that showed him possible futures and one was if you meet some lost people, to help them. Another is if you're traveling with the people and you meet the People, travel with them. The last which sent them running was the one that he and Perrin shared. The reason Elyas said he had a "feeling" was he didn't want to give Perrin too much information about being a wolfbrother. He likely felt that Hopper would be his teacher and that he should do like Obiwan did in Star Wars, and start his training. Then let him finish it with a master, and who better than a wolf? So much of what being a wolfbrother is about isn't being told information about what being one is, but instead of having the right attitude in order to accept all that is, and having enough tenacity to keep your humanity strong.

There might be some big spoilers about Byar in the last few books

Finally as for Mat's bow, I think some of his paranoia was coming out and he wanted a weapon at hand all the time.

I still think the sequence of events that happened during the lightning storm at Four Kings would make a surreal film short, or even a comic book.

 

[Megana Vallentin]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Chapter 35:

I immediately thought it was silly for Rand to just pick the red or white cloth without knowing what they meant. Clearly they meant something important! I also loved learning about Thom's past, although a lot of it didn't make complete sense to me the first time through. Too many new names.

Chapter 36:

I never expected Loial to become the major character that he did. I thought he was just a fun diversion and someone for Rand to have dialogue with, since Mat was pretty much out of it.

Chapter 37:

When Nynaeve is thinking "one whinny", I had flashbacks to the "one raven looking back" scene and it made it SO much more creepy!

Chapter 38:

After Perrin and Egwene are rescued and they're waiting for Nynaeve and Lan starts to go after her, I was surprised that Moiraine hit him with all of his titles and oaths to stop him. Couldn't she had just said "no don't go after her"? That (and him grabbing Nynaeve's arm when she returns) were the first hints to me that Nynaeve's feelings weren't so one-sided. Moiraine could probably tell through her bond, but I was pretty much thinking Lan thought of Nynaeve as a silly child or maybe an AS-in-training, until that moment. It made me sooo happpeee!

And then Lan has a conversation with Perrin and acts like a real person and not just a rock who guards Moiraine. :joy

Chapter 39:

I always felt that Rand's fears about red vs white cloth were exaggerated here. Like I can see how he's panicking, but it seems to be mostly inside his head, not actually much about people with white bands really giving him threatening looks or anything worse. I was *expecting* things like what Rand thought to happen, but really everyone seemed to distracted by Logain to care.

I never thought Logain would end up being so much of a character either, though I did think we might hear from him again just a little.

Chapter 40:

Elaida's Foretelling was interesting, but what really surprised me is that Morgase talked about knowing a Two Rivers accent. I felt like there was a lot to her story that we weren't being told, and a lot happening in that scene in general that made sense to the other characters but not to Rand.

Chapter 41:

FINALLY they are reunited! At this point, the stories had diverged so much that I wasn't expecting them to actually meet up, at least not all at once. Like maybe Egwene and Perrin would get separated and Egwene would meet Rand and Mat but Perrin would meet Moiraine, Lan and Nynaeve, or something. After being in smaller groups for so long, having them all together felt totally chaotic. But FINALLY someone knows what's up with Mat!

And also stopping here was really really hard.

 

[Ryu Shadowborn]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Oh i let myself get really behind.

Chapter 21

Spoiler

Nynaeve learns that she can channel, this caught me offguard at first but now it makes complete sense in retrospect, I wonder how many Village wisewomen end up being wilders.

Chapter 22

Spoiler

Perrin finds Egwene(by the end of this, I will be able to spell names without having to look it up, that is the one downside of Audiobooks) and they head off, and they head off. Looking at the map, they seem to be heading either north or north east, which would take them to the mountains...if they followed those around..they would have ended up in Tar Valon...accidently Skipping Camelyn completely.

Chapter 23

Spoiler

And here we have the wolves, interestingly Perrin is the first to hit his "Destiny" and basically the last to accept it, plus or minus Rand slowly going nuts

Chapter 24

Spoiler

And the dagger, the set ups are all falling in place now, as well as the tower of Genjai, interesting enough the next mention of it is with Perrin in the wolfdream and Slayer going there. Why did Slayer go to the tower of all places in the Wolf Dream?

Chapter 25

Spoiler

In this one we meet the tinkers, and learn of the Aiel, as well as a bit more about Elyas. You know..I would bet a gold piece that come the compendium we find out Elyas was one of the Traveling People as a kid, and probably related to Raen's family in some way, the way they speak of Aram, of people leaving the way of the leaf and the general way that Raen and his wife act towards Elyas says more than just "a person we know who we disagree with"

Chapter 26

Spoiler

Thom leaves the party, the major bit of interest here is that Thom got hurt..but not bad enough to leave town before Moraine's party got to White Bridge, as well as the blue flashes of light..which was the same effect that Lan's sword produced when he dueled a Fade near Shadar Logath..."That was my best set of knives" Indeed Thom.

Chapter 27

Spoiler

Perrin's party leaves the tinkers due to a feeling that Elyas has, does Warder bond sense extend to Raven's touched by the dark one? or is this a wolf sense thing? maybe both? Or maybe Elyas can sense Tav'eren stuff going on

Chapter 28

Spoiler

It amazes me to see how a fight with a fade..can turn into a full on Riot, i would like more details as to what happened there, after all really a Fade is a myth to the people down south you would think that with most people just running away..the fight would be spoken of as a drunken brawl

Chapter 29

Spoiler

We learn about Arthur Hawkwing, It interests me that..the Arthurian legend analouge of the book series is split here, Hawkwing was obviously supposed to be "King Arthur" however Rand has the sword int he stone part of the legend, it is a strange bit there, we also see part of Elan Morin's long term plans here, it seemed that any time someone came through as a uniter of the land that Elan would do something to break it apart, the pact of the 10 nations, Hawkwing, leaving Trollocs and Fades in the north enough so that they become "Myths" and only the Borderlanders care.

Also interesting how the description of "justice for all high and low" did not apply to Aes Sedai, I wanna know exactly what went down to make Hawkwing hate Channelers so badly.

Chapter 30

Spoiler

And begins one of the subplots of the series..that never ever ends, and that never should have started the easy way to solve this would have been.

Step 1: Don't panic like a psycho.

Step 2 :When the children come up, say hello and offer them tea

Step 3 :When asked what your deal is, have Elyas say "Oh I found two lost country kids trying to find their way to Camelyn ha ha country children they are stupid and unworldly aren't they"

Chapters 30-34

Spoiler

This..is probably my least favorite section of the series, I love Rand using the flute to play and make life easier, however everything after "Four Kings in Darkness" is just bleh to me, Matt increasingly becomes withdrawn so it is basically a Rand solo adventure, which would have been fine for a chapter..but 4 of them all in a row like this just makes it drag.

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Finally as for Mat's bow, I think some of his paranoia was coming out and he wanted a weapon at hand all the time.

But it's not just Mat, it's all of them, all the time, constantly with bows strung. :tug

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

I think Mat comments on this in one of the later book (looong boring sequence), when he finds the bow stave thingy to buy when they are moving across Altara...

 

[Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Like Meg Sedai, I never thought Loial and Logain would come back to be important parts of the story. (And OH HOW I LOVE Loial! )

On that topic, I really love how much of this first book is important MUCH later in the series. It lays the groundwork for the epicness to come, but it does so in many more ways that I originally expected. I've reread the series quite a few times but I'm still amazed at how much foreshadowing there is, and how many seemingly unimportant details are actually quite important later in the series.

Unlike Meg Sedai, I totally missed all the Lan/Nyneave clues the first time I read TEotW. Granted, I was a teenager at the time and apparently pretty oblivious.

Ryu makes an interesting point about a possible backstory for Elyas. I don't know that I agree, but I'm intrigued by the idea. Was there ever a discussion of how the Tinkers would respond to someone who left their way of life? As in, would that person be welcomed back for visits, or shunned?

Also from Ryu: "Also interesting how the description of "justice for all high and low" did not apply to Aes Sedai, I wanna know exactly what went down to make Hawkwing hate Channelers so badly." I'm a bit hazy on the details of the more recent books because I haven't reread them as much, but wasn't there something about Hawkwing being influenced by the Shadow, and that was what led him to hate Aes Sedai?

As a side note, I'm having such a hard time keeping to the slower pace; the time just zips by when I'm listening to the audiobook. I've decided to start each new week on Saturday/Sunday, and I'm usually caught up by Tuesday at the latest. I'm not complaining though - I don't mind the pace, as anything quicker would make it difficult to have a good discussion.

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

I always assumed the Tinkers would completely shun someone who left, and would refuse contact. It would be nice to get more on Elyas's past, though.

 

[Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

That's what I though Mother, particularly in light of Ila's and Raen's comments toward the end of the series.

 

[Imzadi Hopewind]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Wasn't it one of the Forsaken ones who whispered in Hawkwing's ears?

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

In Chapter 14, Ba'alzamon says he did.

 

[Imzadi Hopewind]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Okay, but I do remember (maybe I'm wrong :shifty ) that I read in last book (or something), that one of the Forsaken said that he did lead Hawkwing on the wrong path?

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

It's very possible. I just googled "who made artur hawkwing hate aes sedai" and saw the quote from Chapter 14.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Comments from last week's chapters:

-Love watching Lan and Nynaeve during these early bits. I totally missed it all when I was first reading so I'm reading Nynaeve's PoV in a whole new light now!
-We get the beginning of Perrin's big axe dilemma... While I don't dislike Perrin, this is a plot that I really feel gets overdone. By the end of the series whenever Perrin would go on one of his inner monologues about axe vs. hammer, I wanted to scream "Just choose already!!!" Both in terms of that debate and in terms of learning to accept the wolf inside him, I really felt like Perrin kept taking steps back. He would act in one chapter like he was about to accept the wolfdream and everything that went along with it... and then the next chapter with him I'd feel like we were right back where we started and he was debating it all over again. Just... not my favorite plot of the series.
-Whenever I see the word 'luck' in relation to Mat, I get excited.

With a little luck, and maybe a ride or two, they could almost always reach the next village by dark

-The chronology in the chapters around four kings really confused me at first and I had to jump back a few times to figure out what was happening.
-I love Rand's thing with innkeepers.

RAnd was glad to see he was a stout man; he doubted if he would ever again trust a skinny innkeeper. His name was Rulan Allwine-a good omen, Rand thought

Yeah, with a name like Allwine, you kind of have to be an innkeeper.
-We get the first of Mat with a scarf after he gets blinded.
-Mat recovering from his blindness so suddenly... was that Rand channeling? (he wakes up and is suddenly like "Hey, Rand! I can see!") I seem to remember Rand getting sick soon after, too.
-Thom warning Rand and Mat about the Red and Black Ajahs. I realize Thom's worldly and so it's not surprising that he's heard about the Black Ajah, but it does make me wonder how common knowledge of the different Ajahs is. People seem to know what the Red Ajah is since they're so public, but it makes me wonder how much they actually know about the organization of the Tower and how widespread rumors of the Black Ajah are.
-It's weird reading about Elaida knowing what's going to happen with her later.
-It's interesting how much people associate followers of the Logain with darkfriends, since the Dragon is supposed to fight the Dark One. People really seem to not know what to think of the Dragon, false or real.

 

[Megana Vallentin]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

On that topic, I really love how much of this first book is important MUCH later in the series. It lays the groundwork for the epicness to come, but it does so in many more ways that I originally expected. I've reread the series quite a few times but I'm still amazed at how much foreshadowing there is, and how many seemingly unimportant details are actually quite important later in the series.

That's what keeps getting me. The foreshadowing is so subtle and natural in some cases that it's not obvious AT ALL unless you're re-reading. Like Mat saying he likes battles, seems like a perfectly natural thing for a boy to say who's never been outside his village and is trying to persuade someone to tell him all the cool news. Or Perrin being alarmed by wolves, well who wouldn't be? It's not even the type of thing that later on you go "AHA remember Mat mentioned he likes battles and NOW LOOK AT HIM!" Because Mat's line fits so well that it doesn't stand out enough for you to remember. The foreshadowing is like easter eggs for re-readers rather than giveaway clues on the initial read-through.

Unlike Meg Sedai, I totally missed all the Lan/Nyneave clues the first time I read TEotW. Granted, I was a teenager at the time and apparently pretty oblivious.

I was looking reeeaaallly hard too.

 

[Maibella ni Rhoiden t'al'Varrak]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Meg Sedai :fistbump

Edit: Elaida complacently knitting away totally reminds me of Madame DeFarge in A Tale of Two Cities. Creepy in both cases.

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Mat recovering from his blindness so suddenly... was that Rand channeling? (he wakes up and is suddenly like "Hey, Rand! I can see!") I seem to remember Rand getting sick soon after, too.

Rand channeled the lightning to get them out of trouble. Mat's not fully healed, just better than he was -- remember, he wears the scarf over his eyes till they get to Caemlyn.

 

[Kassina Tendar]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

Yeah, that's why I wasn't sure. :scratch I do remember noting that he got sick shortly after that morning when Mat suddenly realized he could see (yes, not perfectly, but significantly better than the previous night) and he'd already gotten sick from the lightning before that. Though I guess the lightning was a pretty big thing so he could've gotten sick continually as a result of it, so the 'second' time I'm remembering was just him being sick still from the lightning.

 

[Rhed al'Tere]

Re: 2015 Re-Readalong: EoTW, Chapter 35 - Chapter 41

I'm ahead. For the first time, I'm ahead. Notes tomorrow through Ch 41.