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 Wheel of Time - Act 1 - Books 1-3

Treating The Wheel of Time as one long novel, the books The Eye of the World, The Great Hunt, and The Dragon Reborn make up the first act. The groundwork is laid for the series concept as a whole, and all of the most important thematic elements are introduced. The beginning and end of the story are bookends, what shows up in one should be resolved in the other. So what are those elements that we can expect to see in the final act and the final volume A Memory of Light?

The first act is where Rand is told he must save the world, which is reportedly the idea that got the series started in the author’s mind. By the end of the first act, Rand accepts that this is true, and he is the saviour of mankind. The second act will be his struggle to convince others that he is the saviour, and the final act will be where the world saving takes place.

I’ve mentioned several times that self-awareness and force of will are defining characteristics of the heroes. In the most recent books Rand is using his force of will to make it to the Last Battle in a way that is counter-productive, becoming almost as bad as the force he is trying to defeat, running headlong down the path that Mordeth took, leading to the destruction of Aridhol. Mordeth’s drive and desire to root out evil was described early in the series, because that destructive single-mindedness is the major pitfall Rand has to overcome. As a saviour figure drawn from Christian religion, forgiveness and acceptance are the character traits that are supposed to save mankind from its sins, and those are the characteristics Rand must embrace before he shares Mordeth’s fate, and humanity suffers Aridhol’s.

Seven of the original characters are defined by their willpower: Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, Lan, Moiraine. Each of them has a drive to accomplish their goals that far exceeds that of the characters around them. Lan’s influence has been detrimental to Rand, as it has introduced him to the myth of the lone warrior fighting an impossible war, a myth which Rand is eager to star in. Readers are told several times that Lan will die alone in the Blight if he carries on this way, but he looks forward to that romantic death. A similar fate awaits Rand if he follows Lan’s footsteps, yet Ba’alzamon has laid just such a path before Rand.

Ba’alzamon, as the force of doubt, undermines Rand’s trust in others, making him think he has to do battle alone. Rand’s friends seek to support him, but his chivalric view that people must be saved in spite of their own wishes will make him dismiss their help over time. Ultimately, defeating Ba’alzamon requires rejecting the ideas he represents. Rand will have to realize that all humanity will be fighting the battle, and it will be a battle of ideas and willpower, not of bloodletting. Individually, no one can stand against the Dark One, but collectively, humanity can reject the selfishness he represents and stand united.

None of that is any good against Trolloc hordes, but there is one place in which ideas and force of will can fight battles: tel’aran’rhiod, the World of Dreams. Here, ideas are given strength. The idea that the world can rally around is that there is a person who can defeat the Dark One, a Dragon, and in tel’aran’rhiod you can lend strength to the Dragon by believing in him. If one person can alter reality by thinking it, how much more powerful would it be if a group of people collectively will it to be real in tel’aran’rhiod? But first, he has to believe in himself, which point he has reached at the end of Act 1.

Every book in Act 1 ended with a battle in tel’aran’rhiod. The last book should also end in tel’aran’rhiod. The Pandora/Eve who freed the Dark One is especially knowledgeable about tel’aran’rhiod. She was encountered early in the story, therefore she should have a role to play at the end of it. Her sins must be redeemed by the Dragon if the story is to follow western religious myths. Dreams and willpower are the common link between several important characters and plot elements.

Each book so far also has a magic object used in the final battle: the Eye of the World, The Horn of Valere, and Callandor. This practice should generally continue, but for the final book, it should be a magic object introduced much earlier than in that book. Tel’aran’rhiod itself qualifies, even if it isn’t an object, but an environment.

This series should rightly be classified as American Fantasy, as it incorporates several important historical and mythic elements from that culture. The Seanchan’s role as invaders from across the sea who require absolute devotion to their ruler evokes the War of American Independence. The slavery that the Seanchan built their empire on speaks to themes from the American Civil War. The myth of the self-made man, the lone cowboy, is one that permeates American culture and the egos of Rand and Lan. Despite the many other mythic influences of far older cultures, American Mythology also stands out prominently.  

The Great Hunt - Chapters 23-26

In this section, Nynaeve becomes Accepted, while Thom declines to join the Hunt.

The viewpoint characters are getting ever more numerous. Some of the viewpoints, such as Min’s and Thom’s, are kept necessarily short to maintain the pace, even as they expand the scope of the story. One purpose of these viewpoints is to remind the reader that as ta’veren, Rand affects every character he encounters, Else, Gawyn, Elayne, random farmers, Min, and more, prompting them to move where the Pattern needs them. Verin and Moiraine have made this observation, just as Gawyn does right before Rand has an incredibly fortuitous meeting with Thom. The power of ta’veren is an incredibly useful plot device that satisfactorily explains away any number of improbable encounters and events. The more people Rand meets, the more this plot device can be used. The broad array of people from every walk of life that Rand meets also serves to illustrate that he is destined to save all humanity. Saving the World means more if you see more of the world you’re saving.

Through ta’veren, the Pattern uses people as pawns to allow Rand to fulfill his destiny, burn their freedom. The human equivalent is Daes Dae’mar, the Game of Houses. Every action of the Cairhienin nobility is aimed at gaining advantage, burn the wishes of the pawns. Perhaps the intensity of the game in Cairhien is due to the fact that the political structure is less rigid than other hierarchies, so scheming for advantage is worthwhile to anyone who plays. In a short time, Caldevwin has already demonstrated inordinate political acumen for an officer supervising an earth-moving project. Loial has heard King Galldrian is a disgrace, trying to buy prestige and stability with bread and entertainers. No sooner has Rand unpacked than letters to bring him into the game begin arriving. Rand’s determination to not be used by Ba’alzamon, Aes Sedai or the Cairhienin nobles will soon include his unwillingness to be used by the Pattern. Despite being a master at Daes Dae’mar, Thom cannot win the game the Pattern is playing with him.

Nynaeve also has little choice but to follow the path put before her. Her revenge, her pursuit of Lan, her desire to protect Rand, all depend on following the rules of the White Tower. She has already begun to bend those rules, taking satisfaction in passing the test for Accepted by cheating with her use of the One Power to make the exit arch reappear. The world inside the ter’angreal has properties of the World of Dreams, in which Nynaeve can create thorns to pierce her palms, in which force of will can alter the reality before her to bring the vanished archway back into existence. Were the thorns crafted of the Power, of dreamstuff, or were they real? Nynaeve’s test involved a number of never before seen oddities. Did these oddities happen because Nynaeve is a woman of extraordinary willpower and strong sense of identity, or is there some other force at work? The holes in Nynaeve’s palms are reminiscent of another saviour figure. As male/female parallels begin to show up more and more often, why shouldn’t the saviour of humanity have a female equivalent? Her testing involved a trinity of trials, threatening her body, her ‘family’, and her love; her past, present and future. I’ll keep an eye out for other subtle hints that Nynaeve is the female equivalent to Rand, the saidar to his saidin.

Egwene’s low key romance with Rand hits several bumps as Else, Min, and Elayne are reintroduced. Min knows she will fall in love with Rand and has dropped hints that Elayne might be in the same boat. Galad serves as the male equivalent in beauty to Lanfear, tempting Egwene just as Rand was tempted. After so much expectation built up that Egwene would be furious at Rand for his flirtations, Egwene’s encounter with Galad is a rich humourous payoff.

The threat of gentling is front and center again with two examples, Logain and Owyn, reminding readers that the only way to prevent the madness may be worse than the madness itself. Elaida’s interest in Rand reinforces the feeling of danger.

Writing Lessons:

Repetition of a plot element reinforces it, especially when revealed in a different way or coming from a different source.