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 11: An Oath
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Egwene al’Vere
After waking up before dawn, Egwene finds Theodrin Dabei and Faolain Orande in her study tent. They report that no one saw a man around Marigan‘s tent although some did notice Halima was around. Faolain and Theodrin explain that they are unhappy that most Aes Sedai do not properly support Egwene as their Amyrlin Seat. They tell her that they do not like her, but they are loyal to her. They swear an oath to her as evidence.
Egwene spots Myrelle riding by and asks her to wait. Lelaine and Romanda arrive to rant about Delana‘s proposal to declare that Elaida is Black Ajah. Gareth Bryne arrives and wishes to show Egwene something. Egwene has Siuan fetch horses and when Lelaine and Romanda begin bickering with each other, leaves for a ride with Gareth, Siuan, and Myrelle. They discuss the road ahead and what might happen when they reach Tar Valon. Gareth Bryne implies that the army is Egwene’s, not the Hall’s.
REACTION:
We get the aftermath of the previous chapter in this one. Theodrin and Faolain report back that the only person spotted around Marigan / Moghedien’s tent was Halima. Egwene dismisses, but to be fair, a man posing as a woman seems inconceivable.
On the other hand… Egwene knows about disguises using the One Power. She knows that it’s possible to invert weaves so that they aren’t detectable. Maybe she should be more suspicious. How often is it that characters make mistakes due to a lack of imagination? I feel certain that if given the information, Mat would have considered the possibility here. He picked out Halima as trouble – real trouble – in just a couple days in the camp.
The big part of this chapter – indicated by the chapter title – is that the two newly raised and frustrated Aes Sedai swear fealty to Egwene. It is abhorrent to them to see the Amyrlin Seat pulled around as if she were a puppet. They want her to be Amyrlin in truth. So they offer to be her allies. They don’t know she already has allies, but that lack makes their offer even more impressive.
This interaction is a good reminder for Egwene. Faolain does not like her – and her reasons are completely valid from her own perspective. She’s got a strong moral compass. But it’s not a self-serving one. She uses that compass to swear an oath to Eggy. The interesting thing will be finding out how Faolain reacts to the full truth – if she ever gets an opportunity to find all of that out.
This chapter also subtly clarifies the shifting power struggle within the camp. While Egwene is on the verge of conquering one of the three primary camps (Sheriam’s camp), the other two are Romanda and Lelaine and those two are growing in power and influence. Theodrin and Faolain focusing on those two clarifies that, as does Egwene’s brief meeting with the two older Aes Sedai just before she sets off with Gareth Bryne and Myrelle.
The end result is that we now feel as though the political game is Egwene vs. Lelaine vs. Romanda. Egwene has Siuan, Sheriam, her two new Aes Sedai oath swearers… and apparently the guy in charge of the army. She’s a lot stronger force in this evolving triumvirate than she was a day before.
Sidenote: Delana wants to declare Elaida a member of the Black Ajah. Delana is herself Black, and works directly with Halima. The only thing that could come of that declaration is to keep the Tower split and to sew permanent distrust of Aes Sedai among the rest of the world. So in that context it fits the Dark One’s agenda. The White Tower united and whole is more of a threat. Interestingly, the fact that both Romanda and Lelaine oppose this serves as a clue to us as Readers that neither are themselves Black Ajah. Oddly the faction most likely led by the Black is the one Egwene just co-opted. Sheriam (Eggy’s Keeper) is still under a big cloud of suspicion on that front.
Gareth basically tells Eggy, subtly, that the army belongs to her. That – along with the ingrained sense of propriety over how things should be re: the Amyrlin – lets us know that Egwene is going to win this struggle and maybe it won’t take as long as we would think for her to do so. The fact he tells her this indicates how strongly he must have felt the need was. Faolain, Theodrin, and Bryne all see the puppet strings the others are trying to put on Eggy and they don’t like it. They intend to change it.
Power might be a trick, and it might exist where people believe it to be, but part and parcel to that is the truth that power is also where people believe it *should* be.
Bryne also gives the first indication that he has a plan to actually take Tar Valon in a siege. I suspect it won’t go as he plans, primarily because he has no notion that Egwene has rediscovered Traveling. It probably makes a siege easier if you can drop hundreds of soldiers through a gateway into the city.
Either way – we don’t find out what Bryne has to show Egwene, yet, and we don’t find out what she thinks she knows about Myrelle (a Siuan discovery that Eggy is now only kind of guessing over.)
The title of chapter 12 is suggestive of good news. I’ll see you when we get there.