““You have very little room to talk, Wisdom.” Moiraine
showed more interest in her hot tea in anything she was saying. “You can wield the One Power yourself, after
a fashion…Do you think I can stand face-to-face with a woman who can touch the
True Source, and channel the One Power, even if only now and then, without
knowing what she is? Just as you sensed
the potential in Egwene. How do you
think I knew you were behind that tree?
If I had not been distracted, I would have noticed the moment you came
close. You certainly are not a Trolloc,
for me to feel the evil of the Dark One. So what did I sense, Nynaeve al’Meara, Wisdom
of Emond’s Field and unknowing channeler of the One Power?”” – The Eye of
the World, p. 318-319.
This small, four chapter sequence, is perhaps one of
the most important thematic segments of The Wheel of Time. It’s not very long, can be read in one
sitting, and spends time with each group of the party. It is this section which is the first to
resonate with those who have had to come to terms with aspects about themselves. In the book, it’s their connection with magic
(and in Rand’s case, seeing his friend slowly change personality as Mat it is
revealed took a ruby hilted dagger from Shadar Logoth). That quote heading this essay is Moiraine
pulling out the big stop that Nynaeve can channel the One Power, she, like Egwene,
is essentially destined to become an Aes Sedai.
This is something she viscerally reacts to, denying it, and Moiraine goes
point by point. As trainee to the
previous Wisdom, she saved Egwene from a fever, which she thought was a death
sentence. The previous Wisdom, it is
implied, knew exactly what Nynaeve did to Egwene, but never let her know. “Light burn her! Using the Power like an Aes
Sedai. A filthy, Darkfriend Aes Sedai!” –
The Eye of the World, p. 322. This
quote is in reference to Egwene and is essentially in the denial phase about
herself. Nynaeve, deep down knows that
she can channel, and is disgusted that Egwene, who isn’t even there, could possibly
be excited and happy with her fate. She
has been brought up in an environment and culture that’s told her to hate Aes
Sedai, for no real reason, because they are tricky and, as she claims, evil. Jordan is also interesting in how Moiraine
and Lan react: Moiraine is content to give her time to accept what she is while
Lan is more acerbic, silently adding the Sedai.
This also happens with Perrin, who gets to be the point
of view of two chapters. The first, “Path
Chosen”, is quite simple and doesn’t exactly play on this theme. It does contrast Egwene and Perrin working together
more, with Egwene forcing Perrin to actually take advantage of the horses and
not kill himself walking. Perrin, being
the quiet and contemplative type, still doesn’t want to be a bother. He doesn’t think of himself as a leader, but
a follower. Yet, he is the one to
eventually choose the path of the title, the path towards Caemlyn, something
that Egwene notices. Egwene knows he is
a leader, and is starting to realize just how out of her own depth she has been,
something which will have greater implications for her character. They come upon Elyas Machera and the
wolves. Elyas is essentially a wanderer
in the wilderness: he describes himself as not liking people or especially Aes
Sedai due to their thought that his communication with the wolves. It isn’t connected to the One Power, but the Red
Ajah, the group of Aes Sedai most often responsible for gentling (cutting
someone off from the One Power) are too superstitious, as is revealed
here. He is a Wolfbrother, something which
Elyas describes becoming one such: “The wolves find you, not you them. Some people thought me touched by the Dark
One, because wolves started appearing wherever I went. I suppose I thought so too, sometimes. Most decent folks began to avoid me, and the
one who sought me out wheren’t the kind I wanted to know, one way or
another. Then I noticed there were times
when the wolves seemed to know what I was thinking, to respond to what was in
my head.” – The Eye of the World, p. 341. The sequence ends with Perrin feeling one of
the wolves leaving, not seeing it feeling it, indicating that he is a Wolfbrother. This is in parallel to the previous sequence with
Nynaeve, as Perrin, in his own way fears this power.
Finally, Rand and Mat on the Spray, a scene
which is depicted on the cover featured by this essay. There are a few things of note here: first,
Rand seems to be able to do gymnastics down from the mast while Thom teaches
him and Mat gleeman’s tricks. Rand’s fear
is in the dreams, another of which occurs here.
There is this idea that these dreams are using reverse psychology to egg
Rand on towards the Eye of the World, though it doesn’t ever explain what that
is, leaving it a mystery for if they ever meet up again, as all three parties
are resolved on heading towards Caemlyn by the end of this sequence. There is also the fear that Mat, who has
become distant, stole that dagger from Shadar Logoth and blames Rand and
Perrin. Rand also ends the chapter with
an interesting thought: “He had to find out.
He had to get to Tar Valon before he went mad” – The Eye of the World,
p. 361. Something is happening to everyone,
each character is essentially being forced to confront something unknown (at
least consciously unknown) about themselves, and that’s where the beauty
is. Jordan doesn’t make them
automatically understand, their judgments are cloudy, their lives are still
shifting, and they don’t accept that they have these aspects. It may not be what Jordan intended, but it
resonates through the ages to a lot of minorities and is one of the reasons
that The Wheel of Time will last.
Next time, though, we’ll be talking about the travel portion of the book
and what it means to be separated from support.
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