Welcome back to my re-read, recap, and reaction to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. This post will only have spoilers through the current chapter.
You can find my previous chapter recaps HERE.
Chapter 28: Trapped
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Gareth Bryne
Bryne arrives in Salidar, noting the Warders and the many Aes Sedai present. He is sure Mara is here in the village, but doesn’t understand what she would have to do with Aes Sedai or why the Aes Sedai should be here to begin with. Min‘s jaw drops as she spots Bryne arriving to talk with leaders of the Aes Sedai. Sheriam tells him the oath will be fulfilled, but they can not let him take them away at this time. Bryne states that he will stay and let Mara do his chores. Carlinya informs him that Mara is really Siuan Sanche and Amaena is really Leane Sharif, which nearly drops his jaw.
He tells them it does not matter, they still swore the oaths and must uphold them. Beonin asks him to serve their group while they fulfill their oaths. Bryne sets conditions they must hold to if they want him to agree to be their general. The Aes Sedai can give him objectives, but Bryne leads the army. If Bryne says something can’t be done, they must at least consider before ignoring his advice. If they decide to start, they must finish since it will be a death sentence for the men in the army if they are disbanded. The Salidar Six confer behind a shield that mutes their voices and finally agree to his terms.
Point of view: Min Farshaw
When Bryne comes out followed by Siuan, Min realizes that she is going to have to start meeting the obligations of the oath she made to Bryne. She would like to grab her horse and ride off to find Rand, but knows the Warders would stop her. She walks outside where Siuan tells her to watch Logain and to not let him speak to anyone. The Aes Sedai in the inn seem more energetic, more intent on their tasks than they did before. Leane has two women acting as her clerks, busy writing letters. Min chases after Siuan to tell of an aura she saw around Bryne. The meaning is that Siuan and Bryne must stay close to each other or they will both die.
REACTION
Gareth Bryne becomes the General of the White Tower in exile. If you were reading closely, this is the outcome that made the most sense from the moment he began following Siuan and Co. He thinks to himself that he’s fallen into a trap, multiple times, but I think he’s actually pretty happy about the turn of events. He didn’t retire because he wanted to, or because he was too old to do the job. Now he’s got a chance to do the thing he’s great at again, and at a bigger scale.
I liked his POV in the sense that it tells us a lot about him, without doing it overtly. He knows a lot about Aes Sedai. He correctly guesses two Aes Sedai Ajahs just on the basis of their demeanor. He decides – almost certainly correctly – that Carlinya and Beonin are highly ambitious at just a glance. Applying a little more thought to it, we can guess that Bryne almost certainly trained with the Warders in the White Tower, just as Galad and Gawyn did. There’s more to a Warder education than merely learning how to fight. Bryne learned about the world, too.
Bryne is also Mat-ish in his attention to detail and his self-belief. He tells the Aes Sedai that he can take Tar Valon – something no one has ever done before – and he believes it. When you’re in a Mat POV chapter, Jordan is always giving him a lot of observations, to communicate how sharp and present of mind he is, and he seems extraordinarily confident on the basis of just reading the room better than everyone else. Bryne is like an older and less mischievous version of that same thing. I suppose it makes sense that you’d need those qualities to be an elite general.
Bryne and Siuan are 100% going to get together romantically. I think after he pines over her eyes a couple dozen times, there’s no other possible outcome. It’s fortunate for him though that the other Aes Sedai didn’t murder him at Siuan’s request. The weird thing is that I don’t think she would have mourned it much. She would have been too duty-driven to do that. On the other hand, given Min’s vision, if Siuan had managed to get Bryne killed, she would have been doomed to die, too.
Final thoughts: It seems like Min will need to get away from the Aes Sedai as soon as possible. If I were to guess, she’ll do it immediately after Rand’s romantic situation with Aviendha finally boils over. Maybe there will be some overlap between her departure and the arrival of Nynaeve and Elayne (who don’t even know they need to go to Salidar yet.) If Elayne connects with Rand’s leadership needs, andAviendha throgh his warrior needs, then Min will connect with him as a human? They’re both from western Andor. It fits. We’ll see though.
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