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 3: A Woman’s Eyes
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand channels a Gateway to the farm, his training center for men who can channel. As he goes through, Aviendha calls for him to wait. Rand lets the Gateway close since he is avoiding her. Rand gives Taim some advice on the various dangers that threaten, the Forsaken, Trollocs, Myrddraal, Draghkar, Gray Men, Gholam, and Darkhounds. They arrive at the farm where women are doing laundry, children are playing, and a lot of men are doing chores. The men gather around and Rand asks Taim to begin testing them to see if they can channel since Rand does not know how.
Damer Flinn is picked by Taim as the first to be tested. Taim channels a flame between the men and then just waits to see if Damer feels something in time. After a few minutes Rand feels the resonance Taim spoke of, but Taim doesn’t say anything for a couple more minutes so Rand noticed it sooner. The testing will take too long, so Rand decides to head back and leave the testing and training to Taim. Rand wants to have as many men as there are Aes Sedai.
Rand asks Taim to seize saidin so he can gauge his strength, which is a little short of Rand’s. Lews Therin continues to pester Rand until he finally shouts at the voice in his head to shut up, which it does. Rand continues with his errands, but also with trying to dodge Aviendha. Rand travels to an empty tent, somewhere far away.
REACTION:
I really liked how Rand began the chapter, just unleashing a vast display of archaic knowledge on Taim. The end result is that even though Taim shows Rand how to test other men to find out whether they can learn to channel, he cannot be sure that Rand did not already know how. Maybe Rand is just testing him. Given all the red flags Taim flaunted in the last chapter, immediately after they met, this has to keep him (and/or his Forsaken handler) a little off balance. If Taim is one of the Forsaken in disguise… same thing.
They’re all a little nervous about Lews Therin almost certainly based on 3,000 year old experience.
It’s interesting that Rand insists on every man at “the farm” learning how to fight with weapons, in addition to the power. I suspect that he does this because he relies on that to keep his own sanity. He’s also just correct that every sword will be needed to face the Last Battle.
Rand mentions off-handedly (well, it was more of an angry off-handed rant) that he intends to cleanse saidin. The other man guesses immediately that Rand must have a sa’angreal with which he intends to do this. That’s not too difficult a guess, given that everyone knows about Callandor, but this might also lead enemies to wonder whether Rand had another sa’angreal, too. Everyone can keep an eye on Callandor, even if Rand’s traps mean they can’t steal it or use it. The Forsaken should know via spies whether Rand is planning to use Callandor.
The other interesting thing from this chapter is that Lews Therin seizes saidin on his own. That’s… something to keep an eye on. It might have been a good idea given that he asked Taim to seize as much of the One Power that he could. So Lews Therin both protected Rand there, and also probably showed the other man that he is stronger.
There’s a lot of info-dump in this chapter, rehashing things we’ve learned in earlier books. Back in the 1990s, before the internet was a huge thing, authors would do this so that someone could pick up the next volume in a series without having to re-read the entire series from book 1. It was the literary version of “previously on Randland.” You always just casually summarized previous events in the first few chapters of the next book. Today, you can do a quick update online, so that this type of writing/updating isn’t as necessary. It’s only a little tedious here, in the present.
The title of this chapter is kind of its emotional theme. We start with Aviendha’s yell for Rand to wait on her (and him not doing so.) Then we see the accusing eyes of the Maidens for that choice. Then we see the accusing eyes of the wives of Rand’s channeler recruits. We learn a new saying at the end of the chapter:
“A woman’s eyes cut deeper than a knife.”
—Two Rivers saying
This is not just themed with the events of the chapter, but also Rand’s larger arc of not being able to see women suffer/die. When Jordan lays it on thick like this, we should assume that this chapter theme is going to also be recurring.