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: Questions and an Oath
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Sevanna
Sevanna is having a Seanchan man tortured, but he dies and Rhiale says they should used the Maidens or Black Eyes. They do not believe there are hundreds of thousands more Seanchan coming. They have found that Caddar has scattered the Shaido rather than sending them all to a safe place in the Wetlands. The Wise Ones all stand together against Sevanna but don’t curtail her authority. The Shaido are camped at a Lord’s manor with extensive outbuildings.
Kinhuin, a Mera’din asks judgment from the Wise Ones since they are not being allowed a full share of the loot. Sevanna passes the decision to the other Wise Ones, but not before giving her opinion on what the decision should be.Point of view: Galina Casban
Galina is suspended in a sack over hot coals in a brazier and truly regrets having struck a Wise One. Sevanna arrives and has Galina lowered to the ground. Sevanna asks Galina if she will swear to obey her and Galina agrees. Sevanna then shows the oath rod she plans to use for swearing. Therava and a dozen Wise Ones arrive and are not happy that Sevanna plans to be the only one Galina will have to obey. Galina is terrified of Therava so she dives for the oath rod and Therava pins her hand to the ground, saying she must swear to obey all of them. Galina swears to obey all the Wise Ones present but Therava and Sevanna above the others. Therava then tells Galina she will become gai’shain.
Therava tells Sevanna that the Wise Ones have decided Therava will be the Wise One advisor to Sevanna since she is acting as clan chief. Sevanna decides to move the clan to the east, away from the Seanchan. As Galina observes dark clouds begin to drop snow, although it doesn’t reach the ground.
REACTION:
Usually… when some relatively minor characters get an entire chapter, it cues you to expect them to play a significant plot role sometime soon. I suspect that our friend Perrin will be dealing with these Shaido again real soon.
We are also being teed up for an Aiel vs. the Seanchan showdown. These appear to be the two big traditional military forces on the continent (though I suspect neither would relish a showdown with a large contingent of Rand’s Black Tower Boys.) The Shaido Wise Ones accidentally kill one of the Seanchan while torturing / questioning him.
The Shaido are extremely spread out. Are they going to find each other and coalesce? I guess that remains to be seen. It’d definitely be convenient to the plot if they do that. I just don’t know how they can do it. The don’t appear to have Dream Walkers.
I think I know what Jordan was going for with Sevanna. She’s our first (and really only) evil Aiel. She’s greedy and ambitious, so in a sense, she’s proof that the Aiel are subject to normal human faults. We saw Avi, in one of her chapters in this book, chiding herself for thinking about how much she’d like to take the 5th from Ebou Dar. Sevanna is that… but without the chiding. It makes sense. If you are relatively destitute and abruptly found out that you have wealthy neighbors, and that you are orders of magnitude tougher and harder-working than your wealthy neighbor, you might be tempted to take from someone who would have little ability to stop you. You might convince yourself that he/she didn’t deserve what they have. The Aiel fight wars over puddles of water. Everyone in the Wetland has endless water. It must really mess with their heads.
We are introduced to some tension in the Shaido group, though. Sevanna is the manipulative one, but Therava and the other Wise Ones are a match for her, and are beginning to want to push back. They could do so, easily, and Sevanna realizes it finally n this chapter. Her big threat is that she has something like a Dead Man’s Switch to use against them. Their belief this might be true is what stays their hands.
Galina’s fall from her evil perch is the 2nd half of this chapter. I think we’re supposed to feel a certain amount of schadenfreude, mixed with (perhaps) a small amount of pity for her. Torture is not fun to observe, even if the person on the receiving end is as bad a person as you can imagine. We witness her being fully broken in this chapter, when she’s forced to swear on an Oath Rod to behave and obey. Her only hope now is an outside rescue, and because of the rod she might be forced to fight her rescuers in the same way that damane fight being uncollared.
The Shaido move east, away from the Seanchan, but I suspect the two groups will meet again. Perrin and his group will almost certainly be part of that. Masema and his group will also almost certainly be involved. These groups with competing interests are a complex blacksmith’s puzzle in the making. It’s a good thing we have a blacksmith on hand.
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