““Here,” Lan said.
He stopped Mandarb in front of what had once been a gate wide enough for
fifty men to march through abreast. Only
the broken, vine-encrusted watchtowers remained; of the gates there was no sign. “We enter here.” Trolloc horns shrieked in the distance. Lan peered in the direction of the sound,
then looked at the sun, halfway down towards the treetops in the west. “They have discovered it’s a false
trail. Come, we must find shelter before
dark.” “What name?” Mat asked
again. Moiraine answered as they rode
into the city. “Shadar Logoth,” she said. “It is called Shadar Logoth.”” – The Eye
of the World, p. 274.
The idea of the cursed city that the travelers are
waylaid to by their encroaching enemies is one straight out of The Lord of
the Rings. In The Fellowship of the
Ring, the four hobbits and Strider are sent to Weathertop where they are
attacked and Frodo is stabbed. The
entire setting of The Final Empire could be described as a cursed
city. However, it is Robert Jordan’s Shadar
Logoth that is perhaps described as the most haunting of these cursed cities. Jordan creates this atmosphere of dread and
sorrow by introducing the history of the city in these chapters: it was once on
the side of Manetheren during the Trolloc Wars, bearing the name Aridhol and becoming
zealous against the Dark One and his armies.
This zeal would become their downfall as the city became corrupted and
fell into its own form of evil, being abandoned and eventually decaying. An army of the Dark One entered Aridhol after
its corruption and never returned, and this is where the party must spend a
night to potentially have a pause. This
is not the first time in The Eye of the World Jordan has included something
trying to be good and falling into fanaticism as its own form of evil, and will
not be with the last. These chapters
also see a grander encounter with the Whitecloaks as the party leaves Baerlon. It is these two sequences which are the
primary makeup this sequence of The Eye of the World and is perhaps the
first true look into the fear the Dark One creates and continues that through
line of never being able to stop for anything.
The sequence in Baerlon ends after Nynaeve al’Meara catches
up to the group and has some of her big character moments. As stated previously, before they left Nynaeve
showed just how much care she had for Rand on Winternight, and that standard of
care is present here, responding to the claim that they are safer with Moiraine
by saying ““Safer!” Nynaeve tossed her head dismissively. “You are the one who brought them here, where
the Whitecloaks are. The same Whitecloaks
who, if the gleeman tells the truth, may harm them because of you. Tell me how they are safer, Aes Sedai.”” – The
Eye of the World, p. 236. It is at
this point where even Thom Merrilin, who was wary of Moiraine, has at least
come to her side that Moiraine is the best bet at least until they stop being
followed. Interestingly, Nynaeve, who
has already sent for someone to replace her while she is gone, doesn’t ever
actively agree to follow the party, instead the conversation ends with her
staying at least the night (something she had already planned for) and going to
take a bath. There are hints of softness
and quiet as the party is allowed to dance and get to know one another, giving
the boys some sense that maybe they can just do this and shows more of the human
side to Nynaeve. Of course, it is later
in the night when they are caught and have to flee, causing another encounter
with the Whitecloaks. Moiraine is the
one to get them through this encounter, using essentially an illusion and
fleeing as the inn they were staying at caught fire.
The encounter in Shadar Logoth, which begins with a
strict warning to not wander off and not take anything, is an instance of
cosmic horror. There is this figure,
Mordeth, who appears and lulls Rand, Mat, and Perrin into a sense of security:
he will share treasure if they’ll help him carry it to his cart, before becoming
enraged and formless: “Rage twisted Mordeth’s face, and fear too. His lips pulled back from his teeth. “Tar Valon!”
He shook his clenched fists at them. “Tar Valon! You said you were going
to this . . . this . . . Caemlyn! You
lied to me!”” – The Eye of the World, p. 283. This is what forces them out of Shadar
Logoth, and as such it is at this point where something that every RPG group
knows should never be done. The party is
split. Chapter 20, “Dust on the Wind”,
describes the fear and terror as the characters lose their way as well as
featuring the first portion of the book not from Rand’s perspective, seeing
Perrin escape and find Egwene stumbling through bushes. Having Perrin’s perspective immediately gives
the reader an indication of his skills at writing different perspectives. Perrin is already more contemplative than Rand,
much of this section coming across as waiting and reflected with Egwene, who is
only focused on finding the others quickly, thought be damned. That is an interesting look as it means that
the next stretch of the book will be looking at everyone separately: Perrin and Egwene together, Rand, Mat, and
Thom finding their way onto the Spray a ship captained by Bayle Domon,
and Nynaeve, Moiraine, and Lan obviously making up the third group together.
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