The Wheel of Time Re-read (currently reading - Lord of Chaos)

[Aduiavas Ida]

I started a reread awhile back, so I'm following along with the thread but not actively reading. Just waiting on y'all to catch up.

Yes, me too. I just read the library chapter summaries to remember which chapters you are talking about this week I wait for you about halfway through Dragon Reborn :P

 

[Merena Orithana]

The finalbook suggests this, but Gawyn and Galad manage it as quickly

As higher ranking nobility (along with Lan), they were probably born with sword in their hands (similar to how Two Rivers folks were 'born with' a bow in their hands).

 

[Toral Delvar]

Thoughts on the first half. These were a little dull, not much really happening
We get the gang back together and they enter the Ways.

We get the gang back together and they enter the Ways.

Chapter 42
We learn that Male Aes Sedai took refuge in the stedding, which may have prevented the breaking. Not sure how much sense this makes – they must have known saidin was still tainted as soon as they stepped outside. Did they go anyway, or did they spend 10 minutes outside every few years?
Loial tells of a man who came to the stedding claiming the Dark One wanted to blind the Eye of the world. This was Jain Charin, though I don’t know if we evert get direct confirmation. What was Ishamael’s plan here? Did he just send a couple of messages and hope that the ta’varen effect would work, or were there hundreds of clues?
What does Moiraine think she could have done about dreams?
Again she says staying near her gives people protection from the Dark One. This doesn’t seem to be true, where does she get the idea?
Moiraine agrees the three boys are ta’veren and this is why ba’alzamon can find them.
Chapter 43
Some Ogier did remain in the stedding during the breaking – did they also develop the longing?
Why did they Ways only begin to change during the War of the Hundred Years?
Moiraine thinks there is enough Power in the Eye of the World to undo the Dark One’s prison
Egwene manages to be mature for a minute, but abandons the idea when she asks who Elayne was
The boys seem to have the dream with Ba’alzamon at the same time
Where does the splinter in Rand’s hand come from – even if harm in Tel’aranrhiod is reflected in the real world, nothing should be able to leave – it even disappears when removed from his hand
Chapter 44
They enter the Ways. That’s about all
Chapter 45
They chat a little in the Ways
They are being followed
The trollocs fell into a trap – the description sounds very similar to the prologue
Who stole the key to the Fal Dara waygate, and why?

 

[Merena Orithana]

We learn that Male Aes Sedai took refuge in the stedding, which may have prevented the breaking. Not sure how much sense this makes – they must have known saidin was still tainted as soon as they stepped outside. Did they go anyway, or did they spend 10 minutes outside every few years?

Also - did they leave long enough to make the Ways and then re-enter the stedding? I think Loial noted that they were just so uncomfortable not having access to Saidin that eventually they all 'broke' and left the stedding.

This was Jain Charin

How do we know this?

Also (this might be in chapter 48, if so, my apologies) - How did the Dark One and/or Moiraine know to search the Two Rivers area/Manetheren area for the boys? It sounds like they knew to look in that area. Is that ever explained in more detail?

 

[Toral Delvar]

How do we know it was Jain?
Ba'alzamon says something like "A hero I painted like a fool and sent off", I think he hints at it when he meets Mat and the Companion says it outright
For the Dark One, he used Padan Fain - basically his hound, we learn this either this book or early in the next one
For Moiraine, she had a list in New Spring and had been going through it, though I think I remember it had been lost - otherwise she probably would have known Rand right away

 

[Merena Orithana]

I didn't think Rand would have been on her list, as his mother died on Dragonmount essentially right after childbirth and I'm pretty sure Tam didn't register for Tar Valon's silver payout...

Mat and Perrin wouldn't have been on the list, either, as they weren't born anywhere near Dragonmount?

 

[Toral Delvar]

I was sure I remembered a vague reference, but I tried looking with several search terms and couldn’t find it

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

Rand would not be on Moiraines list from New Spring. Shaiel was with the Aiel after all. I think it is explained a bit more in Great Hunt.

 

[Toral Delvar]

Tam was around though. It would only need someone to report that the wife of an Illianer commander had a baby around that time - not everyone on the list had gone for the bounty there were many who were reported by others

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

At first, I thought, "Moiraine wasn't the only one with a list." Tamra had many operatives for this mission, but then, she had Moiraine and Siuan be the ones to dig through and read all the details of the reports too. I guess he must have slipped through the cracks. Tam is a private man. He might have told those around him not to say anything.

ETA: There's also a *distinct* possibility that his birth was reported to someone that wasn't Moiraine and Siuan, and they decided not to record it, because he didn't meet the standards, there wasn't enough detail, or they just didn't believe the story.

 

[Toral Delvar]

I knew I remembered it! It was in the Legends version of New Spring but was cut for the novella version

Kari al'Thor. From Andor? Husband Tamlin, Second Captain of he Illianer Companions, took discharge. That pair might have gone anywhere in the world and there was doubt she had had a child at all.

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

That's also why I didn't remember it. Don't think I read that version. Whose POV is that?

 

[Toral Delvar]

I think it's Moiraine. I got my Legends version to try and find it, but copied that from someone who already did on another web site. That was pretty much what I had remembered. It probably didn't help her find him, as it was so vague "maybe somewhere in Andor" and seems she forgot the name over 18 years

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

Can't say I blame her. With all those names and stories, then searching for that long.

 

[Aduiavas Ida]

I think Moiraine says in the Great Hunt that there was a story about a man finding a baby on a mountain, and that she spent a long time chasing down that rumour...

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

I'll have to watch out for that. I don't remember that comment on any of my re-reads. :shifty Not to say I don't believe you, I just don't remember it. :P

 

[Merena Orithana]

Thanks for 'Hunt'ing this down @Toral Delvar @Aduiavas Ida @Leala al'Dareis ! :grouphug

I guess I just read the wrong version of New Spring and didn't remember the reference in The Great Hunt.

So glad we are doing this re-read! :rofl

 

[Leala ni al'Dareis t'al'Caleum]

It would make logical sense that they wouldn't be pursued very far if there was a question of whether Kari had even given birth (because she hadn't). With so many other babies to consider and reports to write, and since it was Tam who took the discharge, it would likely be assumed that he wouldn't know much about the birth (especially since he was fighting). So, I could see this being another case of "pay the money, off they go to who-knows-where, they probably weren't the family we were looking for anyway. Next, next, next, next."

 

[Toral Delvar]

Well, there is also Salia Pomfrey, whose name is recorded but returned to her home village on the second day of fighting - so she certainly wouldn’t have collected the bounty and they must have got her information from someone else. Tam/kari could have been similar, someone said “my old boss and his wife had a kid around that time. He took a discharge and went back home to somewhere in Andor”

 

[Toral Delvar]

I think RJ also once said the boys weren’t Taveren until after they left, which would have been another explanation for why Thom and Moiraine just happened to be in the Two Rivers when needed.