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 1: Lion on the Hill
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Omni
A wind blows westward across Cairhien to the city of Maerone, then across the river to Aringill. The land is parched with summer temperatures even though the calendar indicates winter. The wind continues until it reaches Caemlyn, where it waves the banners of the Dragon Reborn and Andor.Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is practicing the sword against the five best men he can find. Rand almost defeats them, but the last gets in a blow to his head. The nobles in Caemlyn give lavish praises to Rand’s sword work, trying to curry favor. Davram Bashere challenges the wisdom of practicing against multiple opponents since a mistake is likely sooner or later. Davram Bashere throws a dagger at Rand, which Rand stops by channeling. The noblemen draw their swords and the Aiel Maidens begin to veil until Rand tells them all to stop. Bashere was just demonstrating that Rand’s channeling is better than his sword for defending himself.
Rand is getting thoughts from Lews Therin more and more often now. He makes a comment about taking care of Sammael in Illian, which upsets the nobles who have trouble dealing with the idea that the Forsaken are really loose. Mat and Bashere have put together a good battle plan but it will take a while before it can be implemented.
One of Bashere’s men comes in and announces a visitor at the gates: Mazrim Taim.
REACTION:
I like this chapter title, but I’m not really sure what it refers to. Rand is the lion on a hill. I guess that means that if you’re a lion who is visible, you have to do lion stuff even if you’d like to take a nap. Lion stuff isn’t always fun.
The first long section of this chapter is Rand fighting five swordsmen at once – with practice words. We learn that Rand is getting *really* good with the sword and is now having to go to extremely lengths to find someone who can pose him any challenge. We also get some back and forth over his choice to do all of this. The long and short is that the fights are a horrible idea for a ruler, but they’re good for Rand personally.
The oddness of that juxtaposition – ruler making bad decision vs. man doing manly things and maintaining sanity – plays out in much of the rest of the chapter, with the Andoran nobles praising Rand and then Bashere telling him how foolish it is. He makes his point in about the most ridiculous way imaginable – throwing a dagger and Rand to force Rand to use the One Power to stop it.
A few weeks acquaintance did not cover this.
This is a cool scene, but it doesn’t make sense within the plot. Sometimes you can get away with that, though, and I think Jordan does here. Realistically Bashere probably should have been executed. That would have made future interactions with Perrin and Faile interesting. The reason he isn’t executed is that what he says makes sense – even if the way that he went about saying it was bonkers. I could have been sold on this scene, I think, if we had any time in Bashere’s head. What he did was a move of desperation, but was the actual situation a desperate one? I don’t think we were there yet.
Nevertheless… what he said makes sense. Imagine if the Dragon Reborn gets his head cracked dueling with practice swords. On the other hand, imagine that Rand doesn’t duel with practice swords and goes insane much earlier.
That was one reason why he liked sword practice… the absence of thought was a barrier to keep him himself.
Rand probably knows best here, on the whole, but Bashere is also right. Sometimes there just aren’t good choices. Even the middle ground of having an Aes Sedai on hand is difficult because they aren’t exactly a trust-worthy lot, unless Nynaeve follows him around. And she’d give him the same lecture that Bashere does. Rand is right to vocalize his lack of trust, and Bashere is right to point out that he’ll have to trust them somewhat, at some point, to do what he has to do. To Bashere’s credit, he pushes Rand on this all the way to the end of the chapter, even suggesting that Rand get Egwene, if trust is an issue. It’s lucky for him, and Rand, that the plot demanded that Rand not execute him, because he gives good advice.
I liked the digression wherein we learn Rand is trying to spread word regarding the Forsaken being loose, to counter the Aes Sedai refusal to do so. Again, nether choice is an easy one, but Rand is probably correct that letting people know now – rather than later – at least gives them the chance to recover before the Last Battle.
The chapter ends with Mazrim Taim’s arrival.
On the whole, this is a chapter along the lines of the long prologue sections wherein Jordan is setting the mood and laying the groundwork for the plot arcs to come. It doesn’t make for particularly interesting reading, though. Rand doesn’t have good choices, but has to keep making them anyway. That’s not really news.
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