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 50: To Teach, and Learn
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Nynaeve al’Meara
Elayne and Nynaeve do not receive the welcome they expected from the Aes Sedai in Salidar. Instead of triumphant heroes they are treated as runaways. Siuan and Leane are also brought in, to explain their actions in letting Accepted chase after the Black Ajah. Much attention is paid to some of their possessions, especially the dream ter’angreal, the a’dam, and the Seal to the Dark One‘s prison. Siuan is questioned on the wisdom of giving passes signed by the Amyrlin to Accepted. Elayne and Nynaeve are to teach the Aes Sedai how to reach Tel’aran’rhiod. Finally they are acquitted of being runaways so they can resume their training to become Aes Sedai. They are also to work with Siuan and Leane to explain in more detail what they have done since they left the tower. Just before they are dismissed to find rooms and proper dresses, the Aes Sedai ask again about the Seal. Even though it is cuendillar, the Seal is broken and the fragments can be crumbled by hand. As far as is known, only three Seals remain unbroken, which has everyone worried.
In the common room, Thom, Juilin, and Uno are talking, while Nicola and Areina are gaping at everything going on around them. Marigan is sitting with Birgitte and her children. Min is there also, waiting to talk to them about where Rand might be. Thom, Juilin, and Uno offer to take Nynaeve and Elayne away from the mad women who “think” they can depose Elaida. But both have reasons for aligning themselves with the Salidar Aes Sedai, so they will not leave. Gareth Bryne joins the group and asks Uno and the Shienarans to join his army and Thom to help with the Game of Houses, which they agree to do.
The group breaks up as the men find tasks to do and Elayne goes off to talk with Min. Siuan latches on to Nynaeve to ask questions about what they have been doing. Siuan insists on learning how to use the ring ter’angreal to enter Tel’aran’rhiod. They both start blackmailing each other to get what they want and finally reach agreement to be keep each other’s secrets. Nynaeve will get the chance to study the stilled women to see if they can be Healed.
Point of view: Elayne Trakand
Elayne finds Min and finally asks about her viewings of Rand. Min admits that she saw that Elayne would fall in love with Rand, but can’t tell how Rand feels in return. She also asks about having to share Rand with another woman. Min says that that there are two other women and that she is one of them. Elayne helps Min with laundry while listening to her tale of the journey from Tar Valon.
REACTION:
Another LONG chapter.
Nynaeve and Elayne arrive in Salidar, they are *not* greeted like returning heroes, and they start the process of re-learning to be subservient. In this respect, Nynaeve and Elayne are in a pretty similar boat. Elayne grew up in a palace, heir to a throne. Nynaeve arrived in Tar Valon a respected village Wisdom and accustomed to giving orders. Their first round of humility was difficiult. They both left, fell back into their more natural habits, and now both are going to have to re-learn together. Hopefully this will be more enjoyable to read than their bicker-fest for the majority of this book.
I thought the Aes Sedai dynamic at their arrival was interesting. They had to assert authority. They all also had to be mindful of the fact that both Nynaeve and Elayne are *wildly* stronger than any two of them – especially Nynaeve. Aes Sedai determine authority on the basis of strength in the Power. It would have been unbelievably short-sighted to make too frosty a relationship with two young women who will be their superiors in short order. (Notice though that Faolaine does not keep this in mind.) Those two + Egwene means the Salidar Aes Sedai have the three most promising young channelers in the world, all on their side. They also have to be excited about the two bringing them a means by which to spy on Elaida (and everyone else.) This arrival was a MASSIVE win for the rebel Aes Sedai. They just can’t cheer it out loud because they have to keep up a front so that Nynaeve and Elayne accept being Accepted.
Min – the most pleasant female character in this series – is finally back in the plot. Thank goodness!
New information: The Salidar Aes Sedai have dramatically lessened their policy on testing for the ability to channel. We do not know why, though we can guess. They want to have as many channelers on their side, for a siege of Tar Valon, as possible. This also appears to be helping a little bit with the “there aren’t enough women who can channel anymore” problem that has come up throughout the series. Maybe a Tower influenced by Ishamael wasn’t doing a good job searching out channelers? Without his influence, they are self-correcting? Seems reasonable.
As I thought, the Shienarans are going to be joining Bryne’s new army.
I had not thought of Thom and Bryne having known each other before and I should have. Bryne seemed to be recruiting Thom for his services in the Game of Houses. That makes sense given that the Aes Sedai invented it and Bryne is surrounded by them. He’s a world-class general and this move is completely logical. The military at the highest levels is just as much about navigating politics as it is navigating a battlefield.
The showdown between Siuan and Nynaeve was great. Siuan bullies her into teaching her to navigate the World of Dreams. Nynaeve bullies her in turn to let her try healing Stilling. Nynaeve is the only one who notices that the Siuan / Leane feud is fake and she threatens to point this out to the full Sisters. (This conversation basically guarantees that Nynaeve will succeed in healing it, at some point because that’s how stories work.) This is also another step in Nynaeve’s ascendency arc, after her low tide moment of nearly dying against Moggy.
“She had done it! For the first time in what seemed forever, someone had tried to bully her and failed. She almost felt ready to face Moghedien.”
Nynaeve vs. Moggy III feels imminent now. Speaking of… the Aes Sedai took Nynaeve’s admission of having faced one of the Forsaken really, really lightly. Did they already have confirmation that the Forsaken were even loose? I cannot remember if they have official confirmation that Be’lal and Ishamael died in Tear. I think that would have to come fro mNynaeve and Elayne. Siuan would have known about Aginor and Balthamel, from Moiraine, but I don’t remember her telling them. Moiraine learned about Sammael ruling in Illian after she parted with Siuan in Book 2.
Shouldn’t they have been in awe of the fact that an Accepted held her own against one of them? (Maybe they were in awe, once she left with Elayne.) There almost certainly have to be Black Ajah members in the Salidar camp, right? How did they take this news? Shouldn’t the rebel Aes Sedai plans now include trying to identify – if they can – the other Forsaken?
I feel like with the passage of three thousand years, and the leaving behind of incomprehensible relics, the Forsaken probably are usually overestimated, as if they’re more than human. However, there’s also got to be a subset of Aes Sedai who underestimate them, too, (or overestimate themselves, at least) attributing the Forsaken’s knowledge more to their civilization collectively rather than to the Forsaken individually.
I don’t know what the modern world parallel to the Forsaken might be. Maybe if the governments of the world found out that the Annunaki of ancient Sumer were real and at large again?
Elayne confirms she and Min are supposed to share Rand. We know the third is Avi but neither of these two know yet.
Elayne: Who is the third?
Min: I don’t know. Only that she has a temper. Not Nynaeve, thank the Light.
LOL. Nynaeve and Rand are one of my favorite relationships in this series, but the idea of those two together romantically… unimaginable. She’s basically a fierce and loyal older sister to Rand.
Elayne takes this “sharing” news in an interesting way. She’s logical about it, accepts it quickly, and blames their situation on Rand’s ta’veren nature. Does that fit? She has been (allegedly) completely smitten with Rand since Book 1, but there has been something odd about her pursuit of Rand throughout the series. It always felt ungrounded, such that I have always been looking for a better / more authentic motivation than love at first sight. You could blame Rand – as she does herself – and remove her agency. That’s maybe the right answer. On the other hand, I think you could also assume a strong element of calculation here. What if Elayne is a Margaery Tyrell character?
What if she learned more about Rand (directly or indirectly) from Elaida after he left the Royal Palace? That much is at least hinted at when she meets Egwene in the Tower. What if she guessed by his appearance that he was nobly born (everyone says he looks like Tigraine and Lord Luc)? Maybe she pursued him initially with political interest (a potential future rival) or as a political marriage match, and then once she learned he was The Dragon Reborn, she doubled down on that pursuit precisely because he was The Dragon Reborn?
Maybe I just want there to be more depth to her character and I’m looking for things that aren’t there. Her POVs never hint at her interest being a political maneuver. They also never really confirm that this isn’t part of her motivation, either.
Marigan, Nicola, and Areina are “trouble” – per a Min viewing. Since Areina and Nicola were just tested to be channelers, I’m guessing Marigan is Moghedien herself (although I suppose if Moggy is one of the other two, she could probably use the power to mind control her would-be testers – as we’ve seen her do before.) I don’t think we’d get the “official confirmation” that those three are trouble unless it was *big* trouble. It seems in character for her to lurk around in the background. She did that with the Black Ajah sisters before revealing her identity to them.
If Moghedien came to Salidar in disguise, that fight will happen *soon.* The set-up has been written by Jordan and Nynaeve is going to be forced to visit the World of Dreams by her newly reacquired authority figures.