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 20: Into Andor
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Elayne Trakand
After the explosion that destroyed the gateway and prevented the Seanchan from entering Andor, the Aes Sedai, the Kin, the Sea Folk and the rest of their followers stay at the Hornwell estate. As they travel toward Caemlyn Elayne asks after the concerns of the common people they encounter without giving her name. Most believe the Dragon Reborn killed her and is causing the bad weather too. Vandene and Adeleas continue to question the Darkfriend Ispan Shefar but do not get much in the way of answers. They believe she must have taken an oath that can’t be broken. The weather changes and what was suppose to be a two week trip to Caemlyn becomes much longer. Also, no one has proper clothes for the snow and cold, hampering their progress.
Nynaeve and Elayne go to tel’aran’rhiod to meet Egwene, but only find a message to stay in Caemlyn and stay silent.
REACTION:
This is mostly an “everyone is traveling” chapter. A lot of the time, you’ll see these from Jordan after a POV change and the point (from a writer’s perspective) is to reacclimate the readers to their new surroundings.
The best part of this chapter is probably Lan commenting on Birgitte’s grit while she’s having the arrow pulled out of her leg. “Tai’shar Kandor.” In the series, al’Lan Mandragoran (specifically him) giving you a “Tai’shar [your home country]” is probably the highest of all compliments. I’d probably float a foot off the ground if Lan told me “Tai’shar WordPress.” Obviously he doesn’t know she’s not from Kandor… but you know, maybe she is from the homeland of Kandor’s ancestors. Then again, as she’s constantly being reborn, I’m not sure she’s from anywhere. Maybe she’s always reborn among roughly the same bloodline people.
Do I think Lan has an idea that a woman named Birgitte, who looks and acts like Birgitte Silverbow, might actually *be* Birgitte reborn? Yeah. He’s very bright. I can’t remember if he actually saw her in Falme. If he did, then he knows exactly what Birgitte looks like. He’s also smart enough to be discreet with his suspicions.
This is an Elayne POV, so Jordan reminds us that she’s very sheltered, and very desirous of not being sheltered. Avi and Birgitte both tell “inappropriate” jokes, but Elayne doesn’t know one. She wishes she did. (Obviously she should have spent more time with Mat instead of racing to tell him off in the weeks they were together.)
The group is traveling with a leather sack over the Black Ajah member Ispan’s head. The reasoning here is that they don’t want to advertise that they are holding one of the Aes Sedai prisoner. Her ‘ageless face’ gives away what she is. HOWEVER… there had to be a better way to hide her, right? Nobody could sew some kind of exotic looking veil after their first stop? Surely that would attract less attention than a leather sack.
Elayne learns a lot about the situation on the ground in Andor. Everyone thinks Rand killed her mom. That’s a problem. Everyone blames him for every bad thing that happened over the last couple of years. That’s a problem. A lot of people were very unhappy with her mom prior to Rand. That’s a problem. People outside of Caemlyn aren’t happy about the Aiel in the city. That’s a problem.
It’s worth noting that a lot of these problems are the *direct* result of Elayne taking so long to arrive in Andor and claim the throne. Rand killed Rahvin in Book 5. We are now in Book 8. Rand has been forced to hold the country for her (against the will of the locals and himself) for this entire time. She also blames Rand for that displeasure and she would have held it against him if he didn’t hold the country for her. She’s not one for self-reflection and self-blame.
The other thing we get in this section is an account of the rest of the One Power items found in Ebou Dar. They have several more ter’angreal and Elayne is predictably bossy about asserting her total authority over studying them. Jordan tells us that her examination of a crimson rod made her think of heat, black out, and act in a way that everyone insisted not to tell her about. The entire camp either saw her heard about it, and nobody told her. She can tell though that they are holding in laughter. The implication here is that Elayne interacted with some kind of sex object from the Age of Legends. (I guess it makes sense that something like this exists.)
We read about Eggy, Elayne, and Nyn leaving messages for each other using the One Power, in the World of Dreams. I’ll be honest. I have no idea how this works. If this is possible, shouldn’t the World of Dreams be chalk full of One Power graffiti going back the entire history of the Wheel of Time? Or do messages like this eventually dissipate, even if tied off? If you leave a message on a desk, and someone in the real world moves or destroys that desk, does the message disappear? Sadly we don’t have Mr. Jordan around to answer the questions and he definitely would have had answers.
The chapter ends with Elayne and Nyn playing pranks on each other. And then…
“Three days later the first explosion came.” I mean… wasn’t the first explosion the bomb Elayne set off when they fled Ebou Dar? I guess “second explosion” in that context would be confusing. Onward we go!
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