In this section, Elayne and Rand lead multinational groups
and prepare for confrontations
Elayne spends an interlude chapter discovering that none of
the women traveling with her will behave as expected. The Sea Folk finally
declare their end of the bargain complete and begin drilling Merilille for all
she can teach. The Kin see this as well as a Black Ajah being treated like a
prisoner and begin to conclude that Aes Sedai are not that far above them after
all. The people of Andor are not providing the expected support for the
Daughter-Heir and Elayne realizes she has her work cut out for her. When they run into money problems, Aviendha
casually pulls out a handful of gemstones, which would seem contrived if she
didn’t also subtly remind us how she acquired them from the scabbard she tried
to give Rand. By deflecting attention to
their romantic relationship instead of Aviendha’s wealth, the sudden appearance
of the jewels is amusing and interesting instead of unbelievable.
Elayne receives a warning to stay away from the rebels while
Egwene deflects unwanted questions about how the bowl was used and the poor
bargain made with the Sea Folk. This problem provides all the impetus needed to
allow Elayne to focus on gaining the throne in the next few books, as well as
keeping Nynaeve with other groups instead of amongst the rebels where she was
of little value and of insufficient rank to be part of the action among the
rebels.
As the battle against the Seanchan ramps up, I remember an
earlier post where I discussed the reasons why using the Bowl of the Winds was
included in this book, instead of chronologically in A Crown of Swords. It is obvious that in order to build up towards
this battle, it is necessary to build up the opponent. By having a dire battle
against the Seanchan to open the book, a lot of emotion and interest has been
generated which benefits this battle immensely.
A key element of the battle is that Rand is leading men he
cares nothing for, and there are some he actually hopes might meet their end.
They are no more than tools for him to use. Nobles are too conspiratorial, Asha’man
too dangerous, to be anything else. Rand knows the Shadow’s spies watch him
closely, another reason to mistrust everyone close to him. A great deal of time
is spent introducing the nobility, to humanize them before Rand begins making
them pay his butcher’s bill. His logic to risk those who love him the least is darkly
sound from his twisted point of view, but dangerous to his long-term goals.
The mood intensifies. We are eager to see the battle, eager
to see Rand score a victory against his Seanchan opponents, and cognizant that
even if things go poorly Rand is still not losing anyone but those who might have
undermined him or betrayed him. To underscore that point, the man he pardoned a
few hundred pages ago attempts to assassinate Rand. He not only provides
justification for Rand’s actions, his actions imply that he is an agent Moridin
was referring to, and the natural assumption a reader will make is that the
assassination attempt has failed, that plot is over.
Lews Therin has several witty comments on Rand’s internal
monologue, continuing to demonstrate that the voice in his head is more
reliable than the people around him. Rand continually worries about when
madness will take him or the Asha’man, and how he will be able to know. Rand’s
predicament is neatly bundled in a contradictory sentence: “Mistrust of Gedwyn
and Rochaid was simple sense, but was he coming down with what Nynaeve called
the dreads? A kind of madness, a crippling suspicion of everyone and
everything?”
Rand marches into battle, and we switch to a Seanchan point
of view. This is an effort to humanize the enemy. Up until now the Seanchan we
have met are either deliriously fervent in their loyalty, or are outright
Darkfriends, with the exception of Egeanin. We don’t have a strong reaction to
Bakuun, Nerith, or Tiras, other than awareness of their competence, which means
Rand’s visions of an easy victory may be wrong. The illness affecting the damane adds uncertainty to the upcoming
conflict. This should work to Rand’s advantage, but his lack of knowledge about
it may also induce him to make mistakes.
Writing lessons:
Use strong personal reasons for your characters to choose
where they are going, who they are going with and why they are doing it.
Humanizing and dehumanizing people affects how readers view
events and characters.
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