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 19: The Law
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Egwene al’Vere
Egwene al’Vere gathers all the Sitters present at the meeting and leads them back to camp. Bryne offer her his support which she appreciates, but declines. There, she goes back to her tent and talks with Siuan, who gives her a few more tips and pointers towards the formal, upcoming meeting of the Hall. Siuan asks Egwene to not mention her feelings for him. Siuan does not seem to accept the fact that her work is being affected. Instead, she claims that she needs to be near the man because of Min’s viewings.
A pavilion is erected, and Egwene calls for the Hall to sit. Before Lelaine or Romanda can arrange for the Hall to penalize Egwene for not relinquishing control at the meeting with the Andoran nobles, she calls a question for the Hall: who will declare war on Elaida? She then calls for a vote, which stops Lelaine and Romanda since a question takes precedence over other business. In the end, the majority is accepted and Egwene declares war on Elaida. She then announces that once war is declared, the Amyrlin Seat governs the war by decree and the Hall has no choice but to approve all decrees relating to the war. Egwene decrees that after their month of rest they will Travel to Tar Valon and begin the siege.
REACTION:
One quick little note before I jump into the meat of my reaction. Jordan does a really excellent job at utilizing the unreliable narrator device. We’re in Egwene’s POV here, and we read Egwene’s interpretation of the close whispering between Halima and Delana as Halima comforting the Aes Sedai. As a reader, we know that what is actually happening, almost certainly, is that Halima is threatening the other woman and giving her orders. The misunderstanding from Egwene reminds us of something about which we know she should be worried, but isn’t. It elevates the tension very effectively.
Alright, with that out of the way, we finally know Egwene / Siuan’s big plan. The reason they haven’t long since Traveled to Tar Valon and taken the place (in any number of ways) is because they were waiting on an opportunity to first make Egwene the Amyrlin in truth, as well as in name. Taking out Elaida without first doing that might have been almost as disastrous (from their perspective) as leaving Elaida in place. Their plan was to wait on a scenario to occur wherein Egwene could realistically ask the Hall to make a declaration of war first. Siuan – the brains behind the plan – was banking on the arrogance and ignorance of the Hall of the Tower to not realize what that meant regarding Egwene.
This was a really excellent plan, it makes total sense of a lot of what they’ve been doing with their camp and army, the politics involved worked believably, AND it was satisfying. I don’t even think that Romanda and Lelaine are overtly wrong, with respect to how they treat Egwene, but it was crazy of them to be so pushy and overt about it. It was also completely believable. The thing they didn’t reckon on was Siuan.
Speaking of Siuan, Jordan again utilizes the unreliable narrator technique in the scene between her and Egwene. Egwene responds to Siuan’s worry over whether Gareth Bryne shares her feelings by giving what she thought was kind of a throw-away argument for him returning those feelings. She succeeds in her goal of making Siuan feel better without realizing she *convinced* Siuan of the truth with that argument. And we obviously know, as the Reader, that he does return those feelings. He followed a pair of blue eyes across a continent, after all. His POVs in that part of the book mentioned it often. That also means that he threw his entire lot in with Egwene, due to Siuan, because of those feelings. Egwene can’t make herself believe that, but Siuan sees it as truth, immediately, once it is pointed out.
I really enjoyed Bryne’s reaction to the tension, despite the fact he doesn’t really know what’s about to happen.
“Whatever tonight’s business is,” he said finally, “remember that you have thirty thousand men and Gareth Bryne behind you. That should count for something even among Aes Sedai.”
He knows his own worth. It’s profoundly frustrating that so many of the Aes Sedai don’t. He’s one of the best generals alive. He’s famous for that, actually. He just built a formidable army from nothing in a few months. It’s actually inexplicable to me that he isn’t shown more respect. Anyway…
Among the people who seem the most freaked out about what just happened are Delana (who vomited) and Sheriam. We *know* that Delana is Black Ajah and working for Halima. We have reason to believe this is also true of Sheriam, though that part has not 100% been confirmed. (It’s possible that someone like Romanda stripped her and beat her for not keeping her informed… it’s just not likely.)
It’s weird how Egwene completely dismisses Delana’s vomit reaction to Egwene’s announcement of her plans. I mean… that’s a huge reaction, right? Imagine giving someone news they don’t like and the person vomits as a result. You’d ask questions about why they felt so strongly, right? We as the Reader know that this means she’s about to be tortured, but Eggy doesn’t know that. (I’d guess life is about to get even worse for Sheriam, too.)
Do we think Halima is surprised by these events? It’s definitely being played that way. Is that realistic? Not really. Jordan set up the subtext to imply that Halima has ample opportunity to use Compulsion on Egwene to learn whatever she wants. We know she’s using the One Power on her, to give her headaches, and to give herself an excuse or sleeping in Egwene’s tent. We know they’re frequently alone together in Eggy’s tent. If anything is surprising Halima, it will have to be explained away either by some kind of implausible “Compulsion is the one thing *this* Forsaken isn’t good at,” or that Halima asked the wrong questions – like Moggy with Elayne and Nyn in Tanchico. I guess we’ll see where Jordan takes that over time.
Halima: “Who is giving you orders?”
Egwene: “No one. I am in charge.”
Halima: [stares in disbelief] “What are you planning to do?”
Egwene: “I am going to overthrow Elaida.”
Halima: “You can Travel and you have an army. Why are you waiting?”
Egwene: “I am going to take control of the Hall of the Tower, first.”
Halima: “How are you going to do that?”
Egwene: “I don’t know yet.”
Halima: [sighs] “You are an idiot. Take off your clothes.”
Maybe Egwene’s irrational self-confidence inadvertently saved her.
One other thing that seems to have made this work is Egwene’s lack of trust in Sheriam. She won’t let the woman into her inner circle. Why? Egwene almost certainly remembers the feel of that crossbow bolt against her ear when the Gray Man tried and failed to kill her during the events of The Dragon Reborn. She turned her head at the last moment, by chance, and it saved her life. Who suspiciously showed up immediately after that happened? Sheriam. That’s not something one forgets.
Maybe Eggy is keeping her friends close and her enemies even closer.
One final thought: It is implied that Takima figured out what was coming before it happened. Why didn’t she say anything? I suppose we will find out. At the very least, it’s possible she was as sick of the Lelaine and Romanda bickering as were we the readers. Nevertheless, she’s the one described as weeping when the chapter ends.
This kind of feels like an end point to Egwene’s arc in this book, but we’ll see.
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