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 51: The Taking
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is preparing to meet with Coiren and the White Tower Aes Sedai. Min is missing and he finally sends Sulin to go to the Aiel tents to fetch her. Coiren and the others come in with servants hauling two large chests of treasure. Rand gets furious when Coiren begins channeling only to find himself cut off from the Source despite his strength. He then notices that the servants are also Aes Sedai and a full circle of thirteen is there to ensure he is shielded.Point of view: Bain
The Aes Sedai exit with the chests and one of them addresses Bain, who is terrified to be confronted by an Aes Sedai this way. The Aes Sedai implies that Rand abruptly left the audience. They will return in a few days if he reappears, otherwise they may leave the city.
Point of view: Perrin Aybara
When asked, Perrin has no information on where Rand might have gone. He decides to spend the entire day with Faile, but she grabs Loial to play stones with and ignores Perrin.
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is in a basement, still stiff from being stuffed in a chest for transport. Six Aes Sedai are maintaining his shield and Lews Therin is silent. He wonders why no one notices the massive amount of channeling.
Point of view: Sorilea
Sorilea passes the house where the Aes Sedai are staying. She vaguely notices the channeling, but they have been doing that since they arrived. She does wonder what happened to Min, who vanished on her way back to the palace.
REACTION:
Finally! We know who the big fight will be against to end the book. At least mostly. Jordan has spent this entire book building up a bunch of different new foes (with Ishy and Lanfear out of the game for now) but one of the bad guy plots is coming into the clear. That probably means some of the others are for the next book or two to follow.
This was a *very* clever kidnapping plan (which is not to say that kidnapping Rand was clever, I just think they did it well.) Jordan set it up early in the book but hid the scheme from the Readers until this chapter. Now we know why the White Tower Aes Sedai were inexplicably channeling around the clock from the house in which they were staying. The channeling thing they did before they took him is now not strange to the other women in the city who can channel, because they have already been doing it and everyone is used to it. Also… Rand just randomly leaving is within the realm of possibility for what he might do. Hat tip to whichever of the Aes Sedai schemed this one up. It’s maybe the most clever thing we’ve seen any Aes Sedai do in the entire series.
How do the White Tower Aes Sedai think this will go? They bring him leashed (so to speak) to Tar Valon and then when the end of the world happens, they just drop him off there and hope he does well? How are they intending for him to fulfill prophecies? I suspect they don’t put much store in the prophecies and they might even think that holding him captive will delay the end of the world.
“Things were fine until YOU showed up.” – the dumb Aes Sedai
I’d guess Alanna knew immediately that something was wrong, but she can’t Travel and is probably still days away from Cairhien with the Salidar Aes Sedai. As a result, nobody in the city, who might be able to do something about it, is aware that anything has happened. You’d have to assume the White Tower group is aware that the Salidar group is on their way, but they’re almost certainly not worried about them. They vastly outnumber any channeling threat that they might perceive from the Rebels.
Sorilea’s keeping Min away from the meeting was suspicious but it seems likely that thisis not what actually happened and that Min was kidnapped by the White Tower Aes Sedai, too. They couldn’t risk her raising an alarm. They also mentioned “your Green Sister” to Rand, so they were waiting to spring this trap when Rand saw them by himself.
It has been beyond dumb of Rand to have ever seen the Aes Sedai without a room filled with Maidens and/or Wise Ones. He’s going to learn this lesson a hard way, I think.
Perrin – after ignoring his wife inadvertently for a week in the previous chapter, has decided to spend every moment by her side. This was what he should have done all along. Well, no. What he should have done all along is treat Berelain like an annoying little sister who is beneath his notice. Spending all his time with Faile was the next best option though so he’s learning.
“Perrin wished he was wherever Rand was.” Uh, no.
So… Rand needs to be rescued. What are his assets? Mostly… the Aiel.
Sorilea and the Wise Ones will be on the front lines of that rescue, and this Wise Ones vs. Aes Sedai confrontation is one of those moments that you didn’t really know how much you wanted to see it until they ended up face to face. It’s like when a couple of non-rival wrestlers find themselves unexpectedly face to face in the ring. It’s only after they stare each other down that these two fighting feels like it was always inevitable.
That makes the White Tower Hulk Hogan and Sorilea the Ultimate Warrior in this example? Yo know what, I’ll go with that.
Rand won’t only rely on the Aiel, though. He’s got a group of Aes Sedai from Caemlyn traveling to meet him. Alanna can track him down via the Warder bond. She’s traveling with the Two Rivers army. Perrin and the loyal Cairhien and Tear militaries will probably go with the Aiel when they go to get Rand. We don’t exactly know how many Aes Sedai are with the White Tower group, but it looks like 20+. The White Tower also has Gawyn’s troops that we know about. I’d guess there are more. This is set to be a massive fight, and that’s before you factor in the possibility that one or more of the Forsaken are about to get involved, too.
I can’t really see how this plays out positively for Elaida and the White Tower. Even if everything goes exactly as intended, with Rand bound and shielded in Tar Valon, it ends in disaster. They’ll lose the Final Battle. He’s also the most powerfully ta’veren ever so trying to keep him from doing as the Pattern intends seems likely to be a disaster. I guess maybe “disaster for the good guys” might be the intention, though.
I trust that Rand will be free, but I don’t think the chapters to follow will be pretty.
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