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 4: A Sense of Humor
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand travels to the Plains of Maredo to talk about the attack on Illian and Sammael. Many of the Aiel wear a red headband with the Aes Sedai symbol on it. Rand plans to meet with the clan chiefs and with Weiramon who is commanding the Tairen forces. While he goes to the meeting the Maidens and male Aiel trade insults, which they find hilarious and Rand finds baffling. Rand tells the Maidens a funny story but they completely miss the point and don’t find it funny. He is told that some of the Tairen forces Rand was counting on have gone into rebellion against him instead.
Rand enters the tent where the Tairen and Cairhienin nobles wait. The clan chiefs arrive shortly after. Rand discusses his plans to attack Sammael, knowing there must be spies, so his real plans are being held close. Mostly he wants all the men to wait here until Mat arrives, and then wait some more until he is ready to attack. He leaves the noble lords and meets separately with the clan chiefs.
As he eats supper, some of the Maidens give him advice on how to re-attract Aviendha‘s attention, which he does not want to do. He finally goes back to Caemlyn late in the evening and sneaks into his room, where Aviendha is already resting.
REACTION:
I review these chapters sometimes with an eye toward “what was the point of this chapter to the book” and this was kind of a difficult one to answer. We humanized the Aiel to some degree. We humanized Rand also. (He’s got jokes!) I guess the primary thing we learned is that the entire military build-up to fight Sammael is also a joke, though we do not really find out why.
The only other new bit of information is that some of the Tieran High Lords have joined Darlin in the rebellion against Rand.
Did we need this chapter? Probably not. Nearly all of the information conveyed could have been delivered through a line or two of dialogue in another chapter. But we do get a better sense of what makes Rand and some of his military officers tick. The suggestions the Maidens were making to Rand about how to attract Aviendha’s interest were pretty funny. But on the whole, this is the sort of chapter that ends up in a Director’s Cut of a film, but doesn’t make the actual theatrical release.