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 41: A Crown of Swords
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is dreaming of Elayne, Aviendha, and Min, that they look at him with scorn but then wakes up with Min‘s arms around him. Amys, Bera, and Kiruna are one faction, Cadsuane and some of her Aes Sedai are another, and both are faced off against some of the Asha’man who are holding saidin. Rand has been unconscious for two days. Rand asks all of the women to leave except Min.
Adley gives his report of the fight at the palisaded forts that guard Illian. Sammael arrived as soon as they started channeling and he is very strong in the Power. Rand plans to go after Sammael right away and Min agrees to distract the Maidens even though they will be very angry when they find him gone again without them. Rand makes a Gateway to Bashere‘s camp near Caemlyn, which is the strike force for taking the city of Illian. He has nine thousand Saldaean horse and fifteen thousand crossbowmen, composed primarily of men passed along by Taim. Rand makes a large Gateway to the Square of Tammuz and runs through followed by the Asha’man. As the army begins to come through Rand travels to the highest spire of the King’s palace.
Rand and the Asha’man channel flows all over the city to disrupt any wards Sammael may have placed. Sammael arrives and Rand travels to meet him. Sammael challenges Rand, the makes a gateway to Shadar Logoth and Rand follows. Rand sees some movement and follows, doubtful that it would be Sammael. Darkness falls and Mashadar, the evil of Shadar Logoth, begins to flow from some of the windows. Trollocs begin to appear and Liah, who Rand thought was lost some time ago, leaps down to attack them. Liah flees when she recognizes him. He encounters a Myrddraal and some Trollocs and channels a sword of fire to deal with them. Sammael attacks then with lightning bolts. The floor beneath him gives way and he barely catches himself on a ledge. A strange man, dressed in black, extends a helping hand saying he doesn’t choose to see Rand die today.
As Rand reaches the ledge, he sees a large tendril of Mashadar descending toward them and channels balefire, and the other man does the same. The two bars intersect and both men are jarred; Rand starts seeing double. Lightning bolts from Sammael come again as they run away. The other man leaves Rand, giving him some advice on Sammael’s behaviour, and Rand realizes he didn’t feel the man channeling when he created balefire. Rand climbs to the top of a tower overlooking the Waygate, where he expects Sammael to be waiting. Rand spots Sammael and then sees Mashadar descending toward him. As Rand begins to channel balefire to kill Sammael Rand hears a scream. He looks around and sees Liah being touched by Mashadar. Rand changes target to mercifully kill Liah instead. When he turns his gaze toward Sammael there is only a lake of Mashadar, so he assumes that Sammael is dead.
Rand returns to the King’s palace in Illian where Bashere, the Asha’man, and the Illian Council await. Gregorin den Lushenos and the Council offer Rand the Laurel Crown as the new King of Illian. They reveal they choose to follow him because of the grain he had Tear send to Illian even when both countries were preparing for war against the other.
The Council members chant “The Light illumine Rand al’Thor, King of Illian”.
Point of view: Omni
Stories and rumors fly, some more fantastic than others. But one rumor is constant, that the Laurel Crown of Illian is now called the Crown of Swords.
REACTION:
I am really conflicted about this chapter. On the the one hand, I enjoyed it immensely. We finally get to see the scheme Rand has been cooking up against Sammael for multiple books… and for the most part it works. On the other hand, there are things that just don’t make a lot of sense to me.
Why does Sammael pick Shadar Logoth, of all places, to lay his trap for Rand? If the motivation was to pick a location where Rand had previously had some kind of victory, how was this the best spot? I understand avoiding some of the more obvious places – the Two Rivers (what did Rand win there?), or Caemlyn, Cairhien, Tear (too difficult to operate on Rand’s turf without risking Rand’s ta’veren pull messing with him negatively.) But why not Rhuidean? The Eye of the World?
If he picked Shadar Logoth because of what Fain just did (maybe thinking the dagger cut would impact him more at Shadar Logoth), then does that mean Sammael only made this plan in the last 48 hours? That doesn’t fit, either.
Either way… it doesn’t exactly matter because Sammael’s plan totally works but for Moridin’s interference. Rand is saved by the inability of the Forsaken to work together. Just like he was saved by the same thing when Lanfear intervened against Asmodean. I guess that also happened when Moggy (unwillingly) helped Rand survive Rahvin, too. The repeated pattern makes sense from a thematic and moral-messaging sense, but it’s in danger of being an overplayed card.
Does it make sense that Rand could get up from two days of bed rest and go beat one of the Forsaken head to head? Not really. But to Jordan’s credit, Rand doesn’t really win this one overtly, or on his own. Does it make sense that Rand believes he will win against Sammael without grabbing one of his sa’angreal to help out? Maybe. He’s accurately under a belief that he has a certain amount of ta’veren plot armor protecting him and his decisions. He was figuring that out and leaning into it when he went to the Rebel camp and met Fain. AND with as badly as the Fain slash went, he also knows in his mind that his plot armor protected him from a death that would have killed virtually anyone else. Is this self-belief probably not the best thing for someone who is going insane? No. That’s a problem for another book, though. In the moment, it makes sense at least.
All of that might sound like I didn’t enjoy this ending, but I actually did. A lot. It’s mostly just that the Big Finish TM bar for books in this series is unrealistically high and this one had some picks to nit.
What do I think Moridin is up to? I think he’s making certain that *he* is the one who leads the Forsaken, and not Sammael. I also think his ultimate goal – as we saw in the first few books – is to turn Rand to the Shadow, not to simply just defeat Rand. He could have defeated Rand dozens of times if that was the real goal. Moridin seems to believe (probably accurately) that the only way to really win is to turn Rand. I say his belief is probably accurate because he seems to be the Dark One’s favorite Forsaken, as judged by how much he is allowed to use the True Power.
Something significant happened when Moridin’s True Power balefire touched Rand’s balefire. I’m not sure what, but it’s worth keeping an eye on. What happens if you erase a history eraser? Neither balefire was actually released? Or they both were? Or maybe it created some kind of weird problematic paradox?
I really enjoyed the sequence in Illian after the fight. Rand is named King and the reason given is that Rand’s orders to sell the Illianers grain, all the way back in book 4, had been followed and it kept the country from starving. His goodness beget god results. Also, renaming Illian’s crown “The Crown of Swords” is just very cool. There was also something a little ominous and foreboding in Rand accepting the Crown.
Obviously Rand in a lot of respects is a kind of messianic figure and we’re supposed to draw the parallel here between the crown of Illian and the Crown of Thorns. The real name of Illian’s crown (the laurel crown) is a more direct parallel, as it is the depicted thorns of the laurel that poke into Rand’s head. The change of the name – in addition to the aura farming – is designed to remind us that he is still in the balance between a Christian type of sacrificial messiah, and another type, that will try to succeed through strength and force. This fits Rand who is based more overtly on King Arthur than Jesus Christ. Arthur had Christ-like qualities, but he was imperfect. The same is true with Rand.
That gets us to the end of A Crown of Swords. I’ll write a book review to give my thoughts on the book as a whole. My initial impression is that this is one of the better books in the series. The plot was tighter and the heavy Mat focus was a winning formula for me as a reader.
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