Winter's Heart - Chapters 33-35

In this section, Rand recovers from a horrible blunder, and his allies prevail in an epic battle.

Rand is on shaky ground as he leaves to assassinate the Asha’man. Ignoring his recent understanding that killing the Asha’man changes nothing in the long run, he rushes off to play at killing, leaving the duty of keeping him on a moral trajectory to his friends. Min implores him to see the danger to himself, while Alivia thinks killing is a game, thinking of it as cavalierly as Rand does. Nynaeve is the last one to have a say in Rand’s actions, her access to the One Power is the only means by which Rand can gain entry to the villains’ apartment.

Nynaeve belatedly realizes what she has involved herself in. She didn’t think before; she thought of it as an adventure, confronting Darkfriends, renegade Asha’man. But Rand and her husband are going in to execute the men, to kill them before they know someone is in the room with them. Nynaeve left the Two Rivers to protect the boys from the wicked world and the ways of Aes Sedai, and at the last she utterly fails to act as Rand’s conscience. Kill them in their sleep, if you can, she says, giving her blessing to their actions.

As is the author’s habit, the actions which immediately follow Nynaeve’s capitulation are a metaphor for Rand’s moral situation: Something unseen wrapped snugly around Rand’s chest beneath his arms, and slowly he rose into the air, floating higher until he drifted over the edge of the overhanging eave. The invisible harness vanished, and his boots dropped to the sloping roof, sliding a little on the damp gray slates. Crouching, he moved back on all fours.

There is almost no foreshadowing of Fain’s appearance, which can frustrate a reader. At this point Jordan assumes readers are familiar with characters from several books back and haven’t started with this one. It’s a fair assumption, yet the sudden appearance of a returning character can confuse as easily as excite the reader.

Fain represents the evil of Aridhol, a nation that fought the Shadow using the Shadow’s own tactics, eventually destroying itself and tainting every pebble of the capital. Fain’s appearance at this juncture is highly symbolic. No sooner has Rand’s conscience abandoned him than Fain appears, dancing out of reach, goading Rand down the wrong path; the path Mordeth followed. The scene is prophetic, showing Rand’s eventual fate with a twin of sorts who has already succumbed.

Rand instinctively reacts to the illusion, striking Fain and driving him away. Lan is hurt. Rand cracks a joke and Lan does not laugh. He only laughs for Nynaeve, a reminder of her role as conscience and soul for both Rand and Lan.

Cadsuane, representing the Light itself, whisks to the scene and berates Nynaeve. If the guards have them, it is because of you. What can Cadsuane do? First, she has heard Rand’s plea to help her, delivered by Verin. Cadsuane and the Light follow strict rules, and keep their promises.

Rand’s prison is a metaphor for the one constructed by himself and Nynaeve. He dwells in darkness, confined in a tight space, a result of his arrogance and abandonment of morals. He remains trapped there until Cadsuane frees him, the fortunate result of his momentary hesitation the day before. Once in that prison, only the Light can free him. Once freed, he can even cleanse the taint. Many of the metaphors and symbolism in the series are subtle, and this feels like a hammer blow in comparison.

The battle at Shadar Logoth is somewhat unconventional. Readers know every single participant in the battle, and have a clear understanding of the battleground, handily described before battle begins. This allows the author to shift viewpoints continually, covering the entire battle hardly ever coming back to any one character.

Elza’s perspective gives the stakes and paints a picture of strong desperation.

Barmellin and Timna show that the battle has far-reaching consequences, greater than even the battle’s participants know.

Cyndane demonstrates sudden motion, conveying surprise, perhaps enough to catch the heroes off guard. She also confirms she is Lanfear reincarnated.

Cadsuane shows how effortlessly the first attack of lightning strikes has been repelled, and counterattacks with devastating force. Holding the opponents at bay is not the problem, Rand and Nynaeve’s stamina is.

Rand’s perspective casts doubt on the effort to cleanse saidin. He has made no progress.

Demandred finds his skulking ineffective, and must flee before a string of barrages erupts the forest into flame. He encounters some opponents face to face and underestimates them. He also offers the third clue of the book that he truly is not Mazrim Taim. Sigh.

Cyndane has figured out how to avoid the sheets of flame that are launched in her direction. This represents the turning point in the battle, the first time the villains are making progress.

Osan’gar reveals he is Dashiva, and mirrors Cyndane’s tactic. The villains are closing in.

Verin underestimates Graendal, and is in a fight for her life.

Eben has been walking and little else, demonstrating that the heroes can’t see the villains approaching. Aran’gar deceives them long enough to get in close.

Cyndane faces Alivia, who is stronger but lacking other advantages. This scene represents the heroes fighting back against these closer incursions, and maybe being on even footing. Maybe.

Moghedien sees a black dome and decides to sit back and let events unfold.

Rand struggles to control the flow of Power. He is succeeding, but can he hold on? His struggle is presented here, just as the other battles have been joined and have uncertain outcome.

Cadsuane’s perspective tells us that Rand’s effort to cleanse the taint is working, and that the villains have vanished for now. She takes advantage of the opportunity to heal Nynaeve, leaving an opening for Osan’gar.

Osan’gar spies the heroes sitting idly and prepares a fatal strike.

Elza is revealed to be Black Ajah, but the compulsion Verin laid lets her rationalize killing Dashiva. This represents the defeat of the villains.

Moghedien sees the black dome vanish. A vacuum is created into which she is pulled. Readers should know she is dead. When there is a threat to a character’s identity, they must overcome it or be destroyed. Moghedien’s character changed forever when she thinks that if she survived this, she would never feel fear again. She is metaphorically dead anyway, so the lack of a body shouldn’t be troubling, and it should be clear that she won’t be resurrected either. If she was, she wouldn’t be Moghedien any more.

Cadsuane surveys the battlefield and tallies the cost of victory.

The battle was filled with revelations, with several secret identities exposed, almost as though their lies could not hold up to the Light represented by the continent-smashing levels of the One Power being used. Stripping away the taint also stripped away their secrets, for the reader at least. Each small focused scene of the battle represented the battle as a whole.

Writing Lessons:

In conflicts, make each scene represent the emotional progression you want the reader to feel as the battle unfolds.

Winter's Heart - Chapters 8-10

In this section, Elayne is set upon by Darkfriends.

Elayne is trying to embody the ideals that other people look up to. While Perrin and Aram and others all have competing ideals they are seeking to be faithful to, Elayne is such a faith, and she represents a particular form of idealized woman: virginal, queenly, powerful, kindly, generous, beneficent, and brave. Whatever qualities she does not yet have, she will have forced on her by her quest. She reflects I rule Andor, but at times I think Reene Harfor rules me, establishing that the followers exert as much or more control over the relationship as the leaders.

In one inconvenient relationship, further arrangements are made to provide the Sea Folk with teachers. The debate allows for a quick round-up of the Aes Sedai, Elayne’s other guests, and their activities. The damane prisoners are in the care of the Kin. They cannot be released yet for fear they will turn back to their old relationships and try to free the sul’dam. Even the newest damane taken in Tanchico and Toman Head cannot be trusted to make decisions for themselves. The oldest damane Alivia, who must know about Seanchan history from first-hand experience than any official and untrustworthy record, is ready to be set free.

It is disorienting to know the heroines are the three most powerful channelers, only to find better and more powerful channelers among Egwene’s new recruits, the Kin, the Seanchan and the Sea Folk. It is now very muddled as to who is the most powerful, and therefore highest ranking. Under Egwene’s open invitation to channelers, any one of these women could pass the training and be among the top Aes Sedai within a decade. The threat of losing their standing will keep those most powerful women from retiring into the Kin, but a temporary placement would make an effective punishment.

The Kin themselves have begun filtering out of the palace to find their other members who may need help escaping from Seanchan hands. After all the effort to keep the weave for Traveling out of Seanchan hands, the residues Nynaeve will leave behind from each of her Gateways are a very large risk. Did Nynaeve remember to invert the weave each time? Or would she simply insist that she had obviously been careful?

Two of the other Kin have been placed back in novice White and have reasoned out one of three Aes Sedai are Black Ajah. Vandene insists they be kept busy so Nynaeve foists the duty back on Vandene. The others are equally busy teaching Sea folk, keeping the Kin nearby, or working to take the throne.

When the author creates characters, he often has one who epitomizes the class or culture, and then introduces another who rejects that class and culture and who is intent on setting a new direction, turning all conventions on their head. This is particularly effective when he’s also introduced several very minor characters who all embrace the same culture. For example, by naming a half dozen Kinswomen, the reader feels they all share some common traits, but he then pulls forward one difference between them (two of them were runaway novices, while the others were put out of the Tower), and creates tension among them with it. This tension is strong enough to motivate the one or two Kinswomen who are more fully developed characters, and even to shift some of the major characters in a particular direction.

The discovery of alum which can be mined from Elayne’s estates is convenient and contrived. It fixes a major obstacle by allowing Elayne to borrow any money she needs from local banks. The reader’s reaction is likely to be an eye-rolling “oh, sure” instead of any excitement. There really wasn’t any earlier time to introduce this stream of revenue which could have felt less contrived. The best that could have been done instead would be to have her estates historically producing some resource which was useful but not necessary. Then, with the chaos caused by the Dragon breaking the World again, a shortage could have been created which made Elayne’s resource much more valuable, providing the necessary funds but tying her new wealth to an existing plot rather than coming out of thin air. The resource could even have been alum, just with a more believable reason for it to pay for fixing Elayne’s problems.   

The first real action of the book so far is an assassination attempt on Elayne, which is meant to fail. Elayne observes it is an overly complicated plan. What is its end objective? If it was to kill Elayne, they had it already – Hanlon could have kept other guards away while the four assassins finished Elayne. Instead, Shiaine’s man has spent all this effort getting into a position of authority so that Elayne can be killed at a later time, a time of Moridin’s choosing. The problem is that Elayne’s guard is up against future attempts, the forkroot won’t work again, and the convenient timing of the heroic guardsman has created a bit of scrutiny towards him. It may be that Moridin is overly fond of complex plans for no good reason except that it serves the Dark One’s desires. Holding Elayne as a captive may be a prod for Rand, and it is in line with two other previous attempts to capture, not kill, Rand’s girlfriends. 

Arguments among characters add a dose of realism. No one gets along perfectly in real life, even amongst good friends. Whenever Nynaeve, Elayne, Dyelin, Birgitte, and Aviendha have snippy fits, it fits with the reader’s familiarity of such real-life situations. 

Egwene’s only appearance in this book is in a dream, which takes place before her epilogue in the last book. This is not confusing because the epilogue in The Path of Daggers told of a month-long wait before her Travel to Tar Valon. Since a month has not yet passed, and there has been none of the familiar rumours and news indicating her arrival yet, it is simple and intuitive to reason that her appearance takes place within the month-long wait.

Slayer returns, spying on Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve in tel’aran’rhiod, giving Egwene a chance to show off her skilful use of powers in the World of Dreams. With Rand nowhere to be found, Moridin’s agents are lurking near Rand’s allies watching for any clue as to his whereabouts. So much so that three of them are doing the same independently of each other. The Black Ajah will join up with Shiaine at some later point, but it could just as easily have been now. Why not simply congregate the villains and concentrate their efforts? Is it to have a situation like in Ebou Dar where their efforts interfere mildly with each other? Asne’s perspective ends with her warders drawing nearer, but this has no bearing on later events other than to provide the Black Ajah with a bit of muscle. It is frustrating when a tension-building moment doesn’t amount to anything, but in this case there is enough other Black Ajah tension that pans out the reader is likely to forget it amongst the rest.

Writing Lessons:

Plots which are overly complex, or overly simple and contrived, reduce the believability of your story.