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: Thorns
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is resting in his room in the Sun Palace. He finds the flute Thom Merrilin gave him and tries to play for Min, but he is out of practice. His knees almost gave out after holding saidin away from Lews Therin for so long when he was in Caemlyn. The Wise Ones descend upon him but finally decide he just needs rest. Min continues to flirt with him.
Rand visits the school in Cairhien where he sees more of the inventions that are being produced. He also visits Herid Fel, who is very distracted by Min. The next day he sends Rand a note:
“Belief and order give strength. Have to clear rubble before you can build.”
Rand starts meeting with the nobles with Min secretly watching for auras. Lord Maringil is going to die by poison, Lady Colavaere by hanging, Lord Meilan by the knife. Lords Aracome, Maraconn, and Gueyam will be killed in battle. Min accidentally gets interested in philosophy and begins reading extensively the books she can find. Min sees an aura around Berelain that she will fall head-over-heals for a man in white. Min also begins practicing her knife throwing and hand-to-hand combat with the Maidens.Point of view: Perrin Aybara
Berelain is stalking Perrin and Faile is jealous over it despite all Perrin’s efforts to put Berelain off and assure Faile he is not interested. He tries going hunting, but Berelain is always waiting for him when he gets back to the city. He tries telling her to stop and she pretends not to know what he’s talking about. Lords and Lady begin trying to get in his confidence, to find out Rand’s plans.Point of view: Rand al’Thor
After ten days in Cairhien Rand estimates it will be ten more before Merana arrives. He will meet with Coiren twice in that time so that each embassy will have had three meetings. Then he expects the Salidar group will see reason before long and agree to support him openly.
REACTION:
Most of this chapter is just Jordan opining about how confusing and difficult women are. They don’t like each other – especially the pretty ones. Jordan (via Rand) compares their interactions to what you might see when strange cats meet each other. Men – especially young men – don’t understand the women in their lives. “Thorns” is the description Perrin gives to the emotion he smells on Faile when Berelain is around. Rand isn’t any better. You notice here that all of these young men really need some fatherly advice from someone and none of them have father figures around to give it.
One thing I enjoy in Jordan’s writing is the use of reasonable misunderstandings. Here Rand is too young and/or inexperienced to realize that Herid Fel is not “forgetting Min’s presence.” He’s completely distracted by her beauty to the point that he tries to ignore her and then fails, over and over. Min picks up on this, though, as you’d expect.
Not all of the reasonable misunderstandings are as fun to read, even if they are well-executed by Jordan. The Faile vs. Berelain drama picks up where we left it in The Shadow Rising. Faile and Perrin have uh, marital time together, and she leaves fingernail gouges on him and then bites his ear hard enough that it bleeds. Berelain continues chasing Perrin on so Faile gouges him again. Both Faile and Perrin fail to notice that this only encourages Berelain to compete for Perrin. Well, Faile might see and is waiting for Perrin to respond appropriately. Perrin doesn’t see and doesn’t respond appropriately. Perrin needs to ignore Berelain and/or treat her like a little sister, but he isn’t smart enough to figure that out. Perrin also fails to understand that he should be taking the initiative with Faile and not letting her shut him out. He just passively lets her ignore him.
It’s important to keep something in mind as a Reader. Perrin is passive in part because he can smell Faile’s emotions. But she doesn’t know he can do that (or at least that he is doing that.) At the very least, he should be talking to her. “I can smell how you feel, but I don’t know what to do” would help his situation a lot. That lack of communication is on him, not her.
He has a thought that he wants to SPANK HER for how she’s acting… then dismisses it. It’s safe to say that this would have achieved more success than what he actually does… which is to let Faile ignore him, and then for him to ignore her in turn by hiding outside the Stone for six straight days. I mean, come on, man, take your wife with you on these trips at the very least.
But… again with the spanking as punishment between men and women. Maybe Jordan grew up watching movies like the following:
On the bright side, one insight that Perrin has with Berelain, that I really enjoyed reading, was the comparison between himself and a horse. He thinks that when you’re taming a horse, you begin with light touches. He notes that Berelain is doing that with him. People rarely touch each other by accident, especially repeatedly. It’s logical then for him to think, “I need to be somewhere that she can’t touch me.” But the implication of that running away behavior – one Faile picks up on – is that he *is* a horse who can be tamed. He should act like a wolf.
It’s only a few sentences worth of dialogue in the chapter, but Rand invites Gawyn to meet with him because he liked him and the other man refused. Rand concludes, sadly and accurately, that the other man must have believed the stories that Rand killed his mother. Rand doesn’t know the half. Gawyn is so range-bent toward Rand that he almost certainly would have tried to kill Rand if they were in the same room. He’s so eaten up with hatred that it’s almost as if he is being manipulated by Compulsion. Lanfear was near him at one point so it might have been done by her.
Note: Min and Faile don’t like each other. Min and Berelain don’t like each other. Faile and Berelain don’t like each other. Elayne and Nynaeve don’t get along well. Nynaeve and Egwene bicker constantly. Egwene doesn’t like Min much anymore – since the end of The Great Hunt. What’s the best female-female friendship in this series so far?
Note 2: Min has a viewing wherein she sees Berelain with a man in white. So… she’s Perrin’s hawk but Faile the falcon wins out in the end? Or Perrin joins the Children of the Light? Berelain ends up with Galad? (I bet it’s the last… it seems fitting that the two best looking non-magical humans in the story end up together.)
Note 3: The Shaido are just outside the city and Jordan really plays up their presence in this chapter. That indicates to me that they will be very relevant at the end of this book. Their presence is now prevent Rand from continuing to send troops south to Tear. Does that imply Sammael is involved with the Shaido? We should probably assume the White Tower Aes Sedai are involved in what’s coming, too.
Note 4: Fel figures out something important, regarding the Dark One’s Seals… then goes on a fishing trip? That’s… weird.
Note 5: Min views the nobles in Cairhien and sees an incredible amount of violent deaths in their future. These are terrible people so I guess that’s something about which we readers can look forward.
Five chapters to go! Jordan has hidden the looming disaster pretty well. There are lots of potential candidates.
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