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 31: The Far Snows
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is walking through the town of Eianrod which has been deserted or home to bandits for a while. He heads to his room in a former merchant’s house and walks in to find Aviendha naked, washing herself with a basin of water and soap. She panics, claiming she did not arrange for him to see her and must get as far away as she can. She channels and a gateway appears with an icy wind and snow blowing through. She runs through into the blizzard. Rand channels something, which blocks the gateway from closing. Rand gathers up her clothes and some blankets and follows her into the storm.
Rand calls to her to stop, but she just runs faster until finally she seemingly disappears. Aviendha broke through the ice in a stream or lake. Rand channels to heat the ground nearby, he creeps out on to the ice on his belly. He manages to find her hair and begins to pull her back toward the shore. He makes a tent of snow where they can get warm before returning to the gateway. Aviendha is so cold that Rand realizes he must share his body heat with her if she is to survive. She finally is warm and wakes up. He starts to move away but she grabs him and says that the rings do not lie. She grabs his hair to pull his head close to kiss him. They make love and relax for a while before heading back to the gateway.
Rand brings up getting married when they get back but Aviendha still insists that Rand belongs to Elayne. She insists they have to follow Two Rivers customs and wait a year. They argue over marriage customs and whose customs they should follow since they are so different. She says it will not happen again and she has toh to Elayne now. They finally dress, neither turning away from the other so they can get back to the gateway.
REACTION:
It’s weird to say that in a series where so much horrific violence happens that this is a moment wherein the story becomes more overtly adult… but Rand and Aviendha have sex and I believe this is the first time any of the characters in the series have had sex “on the page.” Obviously Perrin and Faile do in the previous book and Mat seems to be doing it quite a lot, but it’s always been off the page so far. Jordan sort of does a “fade to black” with the description here, though, so that it can remain as kid-friendly as possible.
This hookup has been telegraphed for a good long while now. I liked Rand’s reaction. ”We’ve got to get married!” Aviendha isn’t necessarily opposed to the idea, but it’s clear that sex and marriage are not as linked in Aiel culture as they are in the Two Rivers so she puts things off by debating over marriage culture. That scene kind of reminded me of Faile and Perrin’s “marry me right now” marriage culture debate from The Shadow Rising. It’s pretty noteworthy that Aviendha is obviously interested in Rand enough to go out and research the marriage customs of the Two Rivers (via Egwene.) She’ll have to work things out with Elayne. We know the Aiel aren’t opposed to “sharing” and that Min is resigned to it. Elayne is the wildcard.
Also noteworthy: Aviendha “Travels.” She just opens a hole in reality and walks into another place. So far, we’ve only ever seen the Forsaken do that. Probably more noteworthy is that Rand holds the weave Aviendha used in place. If we’re thinking this through, it means that 1) the weave Avi uses will be felt inside the Aiel camp if anyone notices the two of them are missing, and 2) Asmodean will also know what has happened because he’ll see Rand’s weaves and know what he did. 3) If there are any people who can travel in the place where Rand and Avi have gone, they will also feel the weaves and go to see it – the same way that Rand and Avi are planning to do as the chapter ends. In theory, people could go through the hole from either side of the world. Aviendha might have just taught women on the other side of the world how to make a weave that does this.
So… a lot of potentially big deal events may have just occurred. The previous chapter just told us that Kadere is going to let Lanfear know that Rand and Avi are sleeping together, but this scene will just confirm his story. She’s going to be unhappy about this development, I suspect.
It will be fun to see where they went. My guess is Seanchan since Aviendha said she wanted to go to the other side of the world just before forming the weave to Travel. It’s also possible that they’re in Shaara, but that seems less likely because Aviendha views Shaara as “next door” to the Waste. Maybe we’re about to be introduced to an entirely new location, also.
Did it make sense that Rand knew how to make an igloo? I think he can get away with doing stuff like that because Lews Therin is helping him to channel half the time. The Two Rivers has bitter winters so he probably knows his way around some heavy snows, anyway.
It seems the story is just about to really pick up. Onward!