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 36: A New Name
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes rom wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Elayne Trakand
Elayne watches Birgitte sleeping, hoping she will survive. Nynaeve comes back from her walk, feet dirty and tear stains on her cheeks and tells Elayne to go to sleep. Instead Elayne decides to take a walk herself. Juilin found a silver arrow on the ground and Thom recognizes a woman with a braid from his stories. Elayne will not confirm Birgitte’s identity to the men, though. To help answer the men’s questions she explains about how they can enter Tel’aran’rhiod, that they have been hunting Moghedien, and that they may be hunted in turn, now.
Elayne returns to the wagon and works to get Nynaeve to finally go to sleep. Elayne drifts off to sleep herself, then is woken in the morning by Birgitte wondering where she is since it is not Tel’aran’rhiod. Birgitte remembers all of her past lives, things she normally would be unaware of when she was in the real world. Elayne admits to her that she is not Aes Sedai. Birgitte agrees to keep her secrets but also promises to be a real Warder, to keep Elayne safe. Elayne begins changing a dress to fit Birgitte since they have no clothes in her size.
By the time they are dressed and go outside, the menagerie is preparing to leave camp, making its way to Samara. Luca comes by, trying to get everyone moving since he has competitors already performing in Samara. He asks Birgitte if she would paint her face and act the fool but she replies she is an archer. Birgitte bets Luca one hundred gold crowns to one she can beat him in an archery competition so Luca goes to get his bow. Thom and Juilin are using their inside knowledge to take bets favoring Birgitte in the coming competition. After Birgitte gives an amazing display of accuracy with bow and arrows, Luca decides to switch from Thom’s knives to Birgitte’s bow for the act using Nynaeve.
REACTION:
Maerion… Marian… Maid Marian? Some versions of that story include her being an excellent archer.
Birgitte is an apparent allusion to Brigit / Brigid, the Irish goddess / St. Brigid. I’m not sure how the “saint” part fits, given what we know about her.
In addition to adding one of my favorite characters to the story’s regular cast, this chapter gives us one of Robert Jordan’s most often quoted lines:
“I always say, if you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.”
If it sounds like something Mat might say, well, I agree. Of course, Mat after his trip to Rhuidean might know something about the gallows. He was hanged there. Some of his memories might also include going to the gallows.
So Birgitte wakes up and gets a job in the menageries as an archer and hilariously calls her new boss “pretty man” to his face. Even with the name change, I cannot think of much that would draw the attention of Moghedien and the Black Ajah more than that.
Chesmal: Great Mistress, one of these menageries features an extra-ordinary female archer, who wears a braid. Should we check it out?
Moggy: No, you dunce, they’d never be that obvious. Let’s look there last.
She reacts to being bonded as a Warder pretty well, saying she remembers it from a life so long ago that she cannot remember any other details. She’s likely remembering herself, in this exact situation. The implication of that is that multiple other ages have the Warder bond. She remembers the Trolloc Wards and the Age of Legends well enough. We know that the Warder bond did not exist in the Age of Legends (and likely not the one before it before channeling was discovered.) In addition, we learn she is spun out by the Wheel relatively frequently, where as Rand is spun out once-per-age (or so it seems.)
Birgitte’s talent – archery – also has some implications, namely that in most ages, war is more likely to be fought with bows and arrows than with tanks, guns, fighter jets, etc. We as the readers are living in a time period that is an exception to the rule. We don’t live in an age of channeling and we no longer live in an age of archery.
I don’t remember Elayne thinking before this chapter that she intends to bond Rand. I guess now that her attempted dalliance with Thom is over, she is recommitted to him. I suspect that means that it will happen, though I don’t know how that will work with Aviendha and Min. Aviendha could also probably bond him, since she can channel. Min is the outlier in that “sharing” arrangement.
If both sides of a bond can channel, does anyone get the Warder benefit of added physical strength and endurance? If they somehow work out a group bond, will three channelers + Min mean that Min morphs into She-Hulk?
Do we know why this gathering of menageries is even happening? Obviously it’s convenient to the plot but surely there’s a reason. I just don’t remember why. Maybe Luca said why when we first met him. Ghealdan is recently war-torn and from what we’ve heard, the Whitecloaks and the Prophet’s crowds are not the “paying for circuses” types.
I look forward to Nynaeve holding apples while Birgitte shoots at them. I hope we are in her POV for that scene. I said before that there is no amount of money I’d accept for the job of letting someone throw knives in my direction. Same holds true for being the target of someone who shoots arrows – even if she’s the best shooter of arrows who ever lived. I mean… sneezing is a thing. Imagine going into any situation knowing that if you sneeze, cough, or hiccup, you’re potentially dead. No thank you.