The Eye of the World by: Robert Jordan - It Was A Beginning (Prologue to Chapter 4)

 

“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend.  Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.  In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist.  The wind was not the beginning.  There are no beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.  But it was a beginning.” – The Eye of the World, p. 1.

 

This is how the first chapter of The Wheel of Time opens, not with an action scene, not with a bang, but a monologue.  Indeed, this monologue with variation on the setting will open every installment and is perhaps the best mission statement of what The Wheel of Time is, one small part of a history being told.  When initially planning this analysis, the intention was to cover the first eight chapters with the prologue of The Eye of the World, however, in reading changes already found their way into the pattern.  Robert Jordan begins this first book with two key aspects: intrigue and normalcy.  These aspects are paramount to successfully starting the story and before even an inciting incident to the journey can begin, four chapters are dedicated to establishment.

 

“Dragonmount” is the prologue and is responsible for much of the intrigue.  Jordan opens the novel with a madman, in the wake of some great battle, being given his sanity and committing suicide as a mountain grows around him, destroying the land in the past.  This prologue is intentionally confusing, introducing two figures, glimpses at the magic of this world, and more about what is going to happen in the series that only will be clear with hindsight.  There is already hints of Jordan’s florid descriptions of people and the surroundings as the emotions of this man, Lews Therin Telamon, right before his inevitable death.  There are two epigraphs ending the prologue which give the reader the first glimpses of the normalcy of the world once the book starts proper.  As a prologue, it is truly a prologue, setting up features in the distant past which informs the present.  Lews Therin is referred to as the Dragon, and is prophesized to be Reborn, the world is described as broken, and the magic of the world is tainted by the Great Lord of the Dark.  This is also a prologue which new readers to The Wheel of Time simply must power through, which is easier than it may appear.  It is brief, which becomes apparent for a series which is characterized for having longer prologues, some clocking in at approximately 100 pages (though this does not start until Lord of Chaos).  It is a piece of history which will be important later.

 

Normalcy is established throughout the first three chapters of The Eye of the World as several characters are introduced and a status quo is maintained.  Our principle players introduced here are Rand al’Thor (son of a farmer), Matrim Cauthon (local village trickster), and Perrin Aybara (blacksmith’s apprentice).  All three are young men, preparing their village, Emond’s Field, for Bel Tine, a festival marking the end of winter and is setup in this section to be the best Winternight and Bel Tine the boys have seen.  Much of these early chapters are used to set them up with a few character traits, following archetypes.  Rand is our point of view character and Jordan gives him perhaps the weakest characterization, something which will become an issue for people, though he is set up as a normal farm boy.  Mat is clearly a troublemaker and is also just as one-note, something which we will come back to at a later date.  Perrin is the more quiet type, strong, but gentle.  All three boys are spooked by a mysterious rider, and there are strangers in the village: a noblewoman who may be Aes Sedai, a peddler who has become gloom, and a gleeman.  The important part of establishing normalcy is done through a minor character, Ewin Finngar.  It is obvious that Ewin is not meant to be an important character: he interacts with Moiraine, who completely brushes him off, giving him a coin because he is there, but clearly being interested in Rand and Mat (and later Perrin), but what he does provide is an insight into the world.  Stories of Darkfriends and Forsaken, those meant to scare children, and those which are seen by our important characters as that.

 

The superstition of the village is important in seeing how the four outsiders are treated.  Moiraine is essentially royalty, “She held herself with a grace and air of command that made him feel awkward and stumble footed. She was barely tall enough to come up to his chest, but her presence was such that her height seemed the proper one, and he felt ungainly in his tallness” – The Eye of the World, p. 26-27.  She is our intrigue, come to break down the stubborn men and women of Emond’s Field, though immediately bringing the young under her spell.  She is called Aes Sedai and her companion, Lan, as Warder, something which has a bad connotation for Rand which is important.  She is our main source of intrigue.  Moiraine is contrasted with the gleeman, Thom Merrilin, who expects to be treated as a showman, precisely what he is.  While he represents the outside world, there is a simplicity in his introduction so the reader through Rand knows what he is about.  He laughs at the peddler, Padan Fain, and the stories of war brewing over a potential False Dragon, a man who can touch the One Power, something which is apparently only safe for women to do.  Fain and his stories provide the final aspect of normalcy, that of the far-off conflict.  The conflict is something which must be dealt with by the male and female leaders of the village, but not until after the festivities.  The point is that this is something not to be worried.

 

Finally, these chapters introduce two other characters of note, Nynaeve al’Maera and Egwene al’Vere.  Both characters only get introductions but there is plenty of important things to note which will be discussed as their arcs develop.  Nynaeve has something to prove: she is the youngest person in the village to become Wisdom and is clearly not respected by the men and women.  Moiraine called her a child, something which is mused upon as maddening.  Egwene on the other hand is also young, about the age of Rand, and it is noted, is implied to be a romantic interest, training to eventually be Nynaeve’s successor.  But outside of that, the wheel has begun to turn, and the journey has begun.