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 23: Fog of War, Storm of Battle
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand’s army has a group of Seanchan but mostly it is the Asha’man doing the killing. Rand does not want to seize the source since it makes him dizzy and sick, which he cannot afford to allow others to see. A patrol brings in a sul’dam, upset because her damane was killed. There is another group of Seanchan thirty miles away but first the soldiers must be fed.
Point of view: Furyk Karede
Karede has twenty-three hundred men but few of them are Seanchan and only two damane. He hasn’t been able to figure out how such large forces were able to assemble in the mountains without any warning. One of his men ordered the scouts to press ahead, looking for Rand’s forces. Karede is furious but before he can do anything an attack begins, slaughtering his forces. He decides he must retreat with his forces, which goes against the principles of the Ever Victorious Army.
Point of view: Rand al’Thor
Rand is viewing the results of the most recent battle, with most of the troops and Asha’man still in the valley below. One of the Asha’man brings a captured sul’dam to Rand and comments that saidin feels strange in this area. They have twenty-three sul’dam and two damane captives now. Rand orders Flinn and Dashiva to help with the fighting, leaving him with no other channelers. Suddenly Rand finds himself losing the source, falling from his horse and then an arrow through his arm. Seanchan have come from the North where Weiramon is supposed to be holding the flank. The force nearby lead by Anaiyella intervenes and stops the Seanchan charge. Bashere arrives and deals with the Seanchan forces. Morr arrives and heals Rand.
Bashere gives his assessment that the Seanchan are retreating and not likely to stop before they reach Ebou Dar. Some of the other lords suggest moving forward and taking Ebou Dar itself.
REACTION:
It’s pretty clear that the use of The Bowl of the Winds messed up saidin and saidar, at least when they’re used near Ebou Dar. Does it seem to be effecting Rand more? Maybe. He’s the one getting dizzy and vomiting. We’re in Rand’s POV. I don’t know if anyone else would have told him about having his level of problems. We know from the last chapter and this one that sul’dam and damane are getting “sick” as a result of it, though. I don’t think the Asha’man would tell him, so maybe they’re vomiting all over the place once they get out of sight of Rand.
Does anything we know about the One Power clarify how that might have happened? No. My guess though is that the bowl forced the power to do certain things, so if you’re near that source point where the Bowl was used, and you try to make the power divert in another direction than the one set by the Bowl, it causes a problem for you. Imagine trying to push a river stream into a direction other than downstream.
On the whole, with a notable exception (discussed below) Rand’s army wins against the Seanchan (so far) decisively. The Ever Victorious Army is at a huge disadvantage to not even know about Traveling. This is more than a counter to their ability to do air surveillance. I still feel like we’re going to see that swing back in the other direction at least somewhat before the end of the book. Jordan set the Seanchan up as too tough a foe for them to not get some momentum back.
My favorite line in this chapter:
“What you gain on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts.”
What in the light was a roundabout?
Nobody knows, Rand.
The one big success for the Seanchan happened because Weiramon was so “dumb” in not being where he was supposed to be that Rand was almost assassinated. He was only saved because Anaiyella aggressively leads her troops to his rescue. She did so at least in part because she believes – accurate I suspect – that they’d all be hanged by Bashere if Rand died while in their care. The thing is… she showed up only after Rand was shot and unhorsed. She seemed to be at least debating whether to kill him before Bashere showed up and took the choice away from her. There had been a very quick and quiet debate about whether they could flee. So you could argue that she was in on a plan against Rand. I am now DEFINITELY in the camp that believes Weiramon is a clever Darkfriend feigning dumbness. Rand – who is suspicious of everyone – completely fails to suspect Weiramon of this because Weiramon gave him something else (bad) to assume. Rand has such an ingrained bias against nobility that it’s blinding him to their scheming.
That bias cost him an arrow through his arm in this chapter. Will it cost him more later? We shall see!
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