The Gathering Storm - Chapters 10-12

In this section, the heroes’ pride gets in the way.

Ituralde can’t end his unwinnable war against the Seanchan. The best outcome he can hope for now is that future generations will remember his attempt to oust the invaders. Just as he orders his men to dig in and prepare for a final confrontation with an even greater Seanchan force, Rand arrives to offer him a way out. Hope that his country may yet prevail causes Ituralde to follow Rand’s orders, sending him and his army to the Borderlands.

I note the size of the Domani and Seanchan forces are far greater than in any previous battles, even Dumai’s Wells. The short offhanded treatment of this epic battle compared to the momentous buildup to earlier smaller battles reinforces that the Last Battle’s size and scope will be far beyond what has been seen to date.

Rand is beginning to talk about his overall strategy for the Last Battle. Other heroes have been slowly priming for their part as well, and if they aren’t exactly preparing for it, they at least acknowledge it is coming soon, and are shifting their attention towards it.

Aviendha quenches a fire started by a man who spontaneously combusted, as a Pattern breakdown or a small bubble of evil. I am beginning to thin of the bubbles of evil as a misdirection ploy by the author. First, ta’veren events are explained as improbable vents being realized. Shortly after, random events began to happen that are completely improbable, and they are attributed to the Dark One by a knowledgeable character: Moiraine. Then, the Pattern itself begins to break down, causing more localized and impossible events to take place. These are distinct from bubbles of evil only because they don’t unleash some nightmarish power on spectators, these are neutral events at best. The common thread is that they are all random. It seems to me that these random events may serve a purpose if they are leading up to the discovery that they can be made non-random, and that it is possible for individuals to create or prevent them from occurring. Such a discovery would strongly resemble how such events are dealt with in Tel’aran’rhiod, and would fit in snugly with several themes, such as taking control and responsibility for events, and not blaming them on others, and that every man creates his own destiny. It ties in with my theory that the Bore is in Tel’aran’rhiod, and how force of will and identity can overcome the greatest evils. If this speculation is untrue, then ta’veren, bubbles of evil, and pattern skews are simply the random events they are portrayed as, shrewd inventions to help an author move the story along and make the occasional point. So far, the author placed every story element with purpose, and in this case I sense there was intent to misdirect readers by making these appear to be random, so that the final point of the story could be made to greater effect.

Aviendha suffers from both personal and cultural pride, which prevents her from asking for guidance, or from receiving it if she asks. Misdirection is used here as well, as Aviendha’s sound judgment in Wise One matters is displayed repeatedly, while she mistakenly believes she has run afoul of some unknown and very serious taboo. All previous Aiel behaviour shave been strongly linked to ji’e’toh and shame, so when Aviendha proclaims early on that she has violated some unknown rule, the reader immediately finds this plausible, even if they do suspect it has more to do with that other Aiel trait which is often displayed: their sense of humour.

When Aviendha puts out the fire, she has a brief pause as she slowly comprehends why the wetlanders are looking for buckets. To portray the behaviour of an outsider or alien, it is effective to have them misunderstand or overlook a fact which is self-evident to the reader. The cultural norm of using a bucket of water to put out a fire is foreign to Aviendha, highlighting her own foreignness.

As a nearly opposite example, use of the terms ‘flow’ and ‘pressure’ is appropriate in descriptive text, or technical discussion, but seem strange coming from a Wise One’s mouth. Brandon Sanderson has a firm technical grasp of many scientific concepts which he puts to effective use in his writing, but the characters do not necessarily share that understanding. Of all characters that should have the least understanding of fluid flow, the Aiel rank highest, due to their lack of any substantial amount of fluid to study or observe.

In the White Tower, Meidani wants help, but is prevented from asking by an oath of obedience rather than her pride. Egwene realizes something is amiss, and becomes the willing partner to help Meidani find a loophole.

Egwene meets the Black Ajah Hunters, and brings them to her side after a fierce debate. Egwene is pleased with the progress she is making, and both she and the reader assume this is a good thing, yet she is steadily undermining the White Tower as she tries to build it back up. She at least is beginning to recognize that the good of the Tower should be placed ahead of her crusade, and would back down if the Tower could be firmly united and strong again. That isn’t possible with Elaida as Amyrlin. Egwene’s quest to tear down the Tower to rebuild it has similarities to Rand’s debate over whether to break the Seals to seal the Dark One’s prison again.

Traveling is becoming widespread knowledge. Control over who could weave Gateways has been important to control certain plot elements, and has some similarities to how Tel’aran’rhiod access has been slowly spreading. As per the suggestion above, the lessons and concerns surrounding the spreading knowledge of Traveling would be similar to those I’d expect if the ultimate solution and lesson of the story is giving mankind the ability to alter their own reality, as though they were in Tel’aran’rhiod.

Writing Lessons:

Show outsiders misunderstanding or overlooking things that regular characters take for granted.

Misdirect readers by showing things or observations that they will take for granted.

The Wheel of Time - Act 2 - Books 4-9

Treating The Wheel of Time as one long novel, the Books from The Shadow Rising to Winter’s Heart make up Act 2. This is the middle of the story, where we expect to find conflict and a growing problem that the heroes can’t solve, leading into the conclusion of the story in which victory is achieved.

The Shadow Rising picks up with Rand having accepted that he is mankind’s saviour. He sets out determined to act out his role, only if he can do it without guidance or prodding. He rejects help from Moiraine, preferring to set out where his parentage leads: to the Aiel waste. With the help of Lanfear, he gains leadership over the Aiel and captures a Forsaken to teach him. Lanfear later strikes out at Rand in jealousy, and he loses his mentors.

Rand becomes a leader, and builds an army of soldiers and male channelers. He learns that followers have more say over the leader than the other way around. His arrogance leads him to make a mistake that gets him kidnapped. His treatment hardens him, and he grows ever more protective of his emotions. He resolves to firmly impose his will over both enemies and followers. For a time he appears to succeed, leaving dead Forsaken and wrecked armies wherever he goes. Eventually, the people he constrains wiggle free or fight back, reinforcing his attitude. Rand is well on his way to becoming a tyrant.

At this late juncture new potential mentors appear, Cadsuane and Sorilea, who see that a saviour who imposes his will is not much better than the Dark One. Their challenge is to save Rand from himself, before it is too late. At the last, Rand stumbles into a trap of his own making, yet recovers enough to gain Cadsuane’s help. He cleanses the taint, metaphorically erasing his past mistakes, but the question remains what path will he follow?

The villain Ishamael has returned in a new body, naming himself Moridin. He reveals his plan to be not to try control Rand yet. A board game serves as a metaphor for controlling Rand. It can be as dangerous to hold Rand as to let your opponent hold him. Moridin has cast doubt in Rand’s mind, now he plans to sit back while the heroes fulfill those doubts and set Rand’s path towards the Shadow. The only hitch so far is Rand’s cleansing of saidin, a danger so great to the Dark One that all the Forsaken were commanded to stop it even if Rand is killed in the doing.

The cleansing of the taint is the single most important event to happen in the world, opening up the possibility of men and women working together to defeat the Dark One, and acting as the opening blow of the Last Battle. As a pivotal moment, it makes a logical place to end Act 2.

Robert Jordan deftly creates obstacles of character, making the heroes’ choices directly responsible for how events play out. Nowhere is this clearer than with the battle for Rand’s identity, where his most personal defining choices dictate the fate of the world.

Supporting characters have been propelled into positions of leadership throughout Act 2. Elayne, Egwene, Mat and Perrin have assumed the responsibilities of leadership without going through the difficulties that Rand has created for himself. Notably absent is Nynaeve, who acts as Rand’s protector and conscience, disposing of threats to him, and she therefore has no leadership duties to assume.

All of the characters have had romantic interests identified and the majority have cemented them. Where stories frequently are resolved by acquiring the romantic interest, the fact that this story has tied most of them up this early may signify that the most important role of the relationship is to make men and women work together, like saidar and saidin. Resolving the romance at the end of the story would be counterproductive in achieving this goal.

The World of Dreams, Tel’aran’rhiod, is a place where identity and force of will shape reality. The early part of Act 2 had a heavy focus on this realm which was conspicuously absent in later books. This is distraction on the author’s part, diverting the reader’s attention from the possibilities of its powers until their eventual use in the final act.

Several of the books made use of a magical item or spell in the climax of a plotline, such as the Bowl of the Winds, balefire, a’dam, or the Choedan Kal, but these are far less obvious quests than in the earlier books of the series.

The broadened cast of characters and more frequent use of minor characters’ viewpoints greatly expand the world. Readers understand that the whole world is at stake, because they are exposed to the entire world and its myriad cultures. This wider tapestry has the side effect of bogging down the story a bit; most often when the readers can’t see how a scene affects the characters they have been following for so long.

The story carries the best pacing and enjoyment when readers are treated to several chapters in a row featuring the same locale before jumping to a different one.

Continuing the theme of American fantasy, the books of Act 2 reflect a far less certain time, reminiscent of the Vietnam era and its outcome, and the internal conflict it created.  Rand and America have stepped forward to claim the privileges of adulthood, and then made an apparent bungle of things with hardened arrogance and ego, the type of errors in judgment such as any young man might make. These events are part of the modern American mythology, along with the self-questioning that comes with it. These books are about the search not only for what outcomes are right, but what actions are right to reach them.

The Path of Daggers - Chapters 20-22

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.

The Path of Daggers - Chapters 13-15

In this section, the stakes for Rand are raised and Egwene has a problem she turns into an opportunity

The weather tells us Rand’s mood is poor, especially in light of what Cadsuane and Sorilea agreed moments earlier. Rand acts with all the worst behaviours of the nobility he has displaced. The nobles may not trust each other, but Rand trusts none of them. He starts off polite and firm, but quickly degrades and contemptuously tells the dregs of Sammael’s army to surrender or be killed. Furious at their continued opposition and doubt, he considers a number of other obstacles he is facing, and latches onto the rumour of an Aes Sedai amongst the Shaido as proof the White Tower would never give him peace. His experiences with Galina’s Aes Sedai have left him deeply mistrustful and paranoid about the Tower.

The introduction of several new nobles is pulled off effectively by tagging each by their nationality, sex, and rank. Gregorin is the head of the Council of Nine, Marcolin is captain of their armies. Weiramon leads the cavalry for Tear, Tolmeran is his rival, Rosana is new. Three other names are written off as soon to be dead, no need to distinguish between them. Semaradrid is a soldier from Cairhien. For a large group of mostly new characters thrown at the reader, it is remarkably easy to distinguish them.

The Asha’man were bit players in the last book, but we now see a number of them interact, just as the nobles did a chapter earlier. Again, each is given a tag of age or nationality or ability to distinguish them, which works well. Each is also well associated with the task he was assigned. The Asha’man have a discussion about numbers of male channelers, and the inevitable madness that will consume them all. Rand accidentally reveals to them his desire to cleanse saidin, and the Asha’man are enthralled.

Our attention is once more drawn to Herid Fel’s message about sealing the Dark One’s prison.

Lews Therin’s voice has been absent since before Rand took Illian. Having spent some time over the last three books making Lew Therin’s presence normal to the reader, its absence is disconcerting. He welcomes the return of the voice which of course makes readers uncomfortable. Not only is Rand in the wrong mood to achieve victory, he is plainly more likely to believe the voice in his head than anyone trying to get through to him. The voice returns because Rand has entrusted Narishma with a task that requires trust, which brings forth his mad desire to kill the Asha’man who return to the Black Tower. Rand has little choice but to stay away from the Black Tower, he can’t trust himself not to get into a fight with Mazrim Taim, whose attitude is belligerent, but he still appears to be doing what he is supposed to be doing. Readers are well on their way to adopting Lews Therin’s ideas regarding Taim, indicating that the author has very successfully made the mad voice seem reasonable, which is just what our mad hero would think.

This book is oddly straightforward, and feels like there are fewer layers of meaning in various passages. Is this related to the proposed theme of Darkfriends lurking amongst allies? Jordan is portraying people and events very directly to achieve a sensation of normalcy, that there is nothing lurking just out of sight. Revealing known Darkfriends like Aran'gar after telling readers about Moridin’s secret agents would be useful in getting the reader to drop their guard for when the hidden Darkfriends make their move later on. He tells the reader what to look for, and then shows the reader what they are looking for so they don’t search any further. This technique works even better by establishing a few cases in which the reader has been told what to look for, and then found it, establishing trust in the author’s directions.

In earlier sections it was established that no Darkfriends had infiltrated the Kin, or the Black Ajah would have known their secret. Perrin has people with secrets in his camp, but there is a remarkable lack of Darkfriends so far. In Rand’s section we suspect someone must be a Darkfriend. With Egwene, the main skulker we know about is Aran’gar, disguised as Halima, who has gotten close to both Egwene and Delana, a Sitter who is also Black Ajah.

Egwene learns of an army ahead of hers, so she arranges for parley, and tries to keep it from the Hall of the Sitters for as long as possible. This is the first step in her plan to assert her control. It’s a subtle plan, which we are told nothing of yet, and she expected to have to implement it once they reached Andor, but this is slightly ahead of her schedule. We’ll talk plenty about Egwene in the next post.

Writing Lessons:

Use misdirection to set your reader’s expectations the way you want them.

Lord of Chaos - Chapters 28-31

In this section, characters good and evil accomplish some goals

Rand reads two letters from the Sea Folk, and brushes them off. This will later allow Elayne to interact with them without having been preceded by Rand, which would have undermined her negotiations with them.

Rand continues to interact with the voice in his head. Lews Therin believes Rand is the voice in his head, which is a powerful means of establishing the voice is real (or the illusion of it).

Sulin’s example explains ji’e’toh a little more. No one can set your punishment or tell you how to meet your obligation; it can only be set and ended by the one undertaking it. Wise Ones do not dispense punishments by force, but by suggestion. If you can’t figure it out yourself, they will set you something awful, but they can’t make you do it except in the way it affects your social standing. This is why they have so much trouble with Shaido Wise Ones, who always push the bounds of acting reasonably. A person’s honour and standing is always in their own hands.

Taim luckily shows up to thwart a Gray Man, the throwaway assassins the Forsaken use to remind Rand they are halfheartedly trying to kill him. Even Rand can see this smacks of a set-up, and it will later be a ‘clue’ pointing to Demandred impersonating Taim. I was an eager proponent of this theory, even joking that obviously Robert Jordan is wrong, Taim IS Demandred. A discussion of this theory is best suited for the end of the book, when Demandred makes his final appearance. In keeping with the theme of trickery and double-dealing, Taim discusses Forsaken in disguise with Rand. But what is the deceit and what is the truth? The author is effectively creating mistrust with Taim’s timely intervention and Lews Therin’s homicidal desire to snuff Taim.

Padan Fain makes a surprise appearance, a reminder that events can get even more complicated quickly. Fain has some creepy interaction with his minions, and some powerful tricks up his sleeve. They could have been called abilities, powers, or a number of other things, but the author chose ‘tricks’, again fitting the theme. We are reminded that Elaida and Niall have been brushed by Fain, and are inherently mistrustful of Rand now. The implication is that whatever we’ve seen Niall plotting, and Valda’s dismay over it, is all a downstream effect of Fain pulling his strings. The implication is that Elaida’s embassy has similar bad intentions towards Rand. Even if the reader already had a strong feeling about this, Fain’s involvement, even from a distance, cranks up the tension over what they will do.

Nynaeve and Elayne are reluctant captors, telling Marigan to say she fell down stairs after Birgitte beats her. They worry they too will act as Birgitte has; they feel such anger and distaste towards Moghedien. It can’t help that they feel convinced Moghedien deserves such treatment. It doesn’t look far from the day when they’ll want to hurt Moghedien.

Nynaeve is not responding to any of her own treatments at the hands of Aes Sedai, which are worse that what Moghedien is receiving, the Birgitte incident aside. Dunking, beating, sleep deprivation and more are what she has been subjected to in an effort to make her channel without seizing the source as a man does. Nynaeve does not surrender, not even to saidar, she must be in control. But she makes her first step towards surrender when she wholeheartedly apologizes to Elayne or her behaviour. She takes her first step towards letting go, and within minutes she has performed a miracle. The idea of the heroes giving up control to win, while the villains ruthlessly try to control everything runs through the whole series. The Way of the Leaf and Aiel fatalism both involve accepting events, while Mordeth, Seanchan and Whitecloaks all seek to control other people. Control vs. acceptance. This mirrors Rand’s later epiphany atop Dragonmount.

Nynaeve heals Logain with a bridge of Fire and Spirit, restoring his power and will to live. Fire and spirit are words that represent desire to live; no wonder it wasn’t done with Earth and Air.

Many Aes Sedai are introduced, some of which will be prominent in later Rebel plotlines including the eighteen Sitters. Their roles are not yet relevant. The causal naming of every sister who passes by has the effect of making the rebel encampment feel like a community.

The effects of healing stilling are immediately revealed: Siuan can still lie, but her title is gone. Also gone is her standing, now that she is among the weakest Aes Sedai. A lot of stock has been put in the amount of the One Power that several heroes can use, yet by the end of Towers of Midnight, we’ll see the tables turned and some of the most powerful will have become the least. For now, Siuan considers it worth the risk of exposing the secret in order to gain foremost position among the Aes Sedai, by title since she can’t by simple Power level. She can’t get either, and is reduced to renewing friendships she tossed aside for the simple favour of accompanying Sheriam to meet Egwene.

Siuan’s old friend Delana is Black Ajah, and is keeping her own Forsaken hidden from the rebels. Aran’gar has made her appearance, and her interest is in guiding the hall. This implies that subtle manipulation from the shadows is the Dark One’s plan. And there are now a Forsaken with each of the Aes Sedai factions.

Valda has misgivings, Niall has a feeling he is compelled to follow, Paitr is hung, and Morgase capitulates. Plotting in the shadows can make for boring reading unless something happens to advance the plot as well. Here, Valda plots with Asunawa, but the event is Morgase signing the treaty, which can have far-reaching consequences.

Let’s analyze the paragraph where Nynaeve is worried about staying in Salidar and surprisingly heals Logain:

Worry about Myrelle keeping back a message from Egwene è the emptiness is small, then vast, as though this small worry could swallow them all, implying danger.

If she could talk to Egwene, she’d have help èwhat about the cut she found in Siuan, real but faint, echoing the feeling that there is a slim hope. Yes, maybe…

She just needs to talk to Egwene, and she will convince Elayne to leave, since Elayne respects her so much è She found the key, something cut, an impression that is the same as in Siuan.  

If I could find her, we would join up, and be together èif she bridges the cut…

The two problems play off each other, and as Nynaeve finds the solution to one in her mind, in parallel she solves the second.

Writing Lessons:

Associate obstacles to each other to make them symbolize each other.