““Don’t worry,” Rand said…“I’ll get you to Nynaeve just
as quick as I can.” As he went on, as
much to reassure himself as for Tam’s benefit, he peeled off his bloodstained
shirt, hardly ever noticing the cold in his haste to be rid of it, and
hurriedly pulled on the clean one…“We’ll be safe in the village in no time, and
the Wisdom will set everything right.
You’ll see. Everything’s going to be all right.” That thought was like a beacon as he pulled
on his coat and bent to tend Tam’s wound.
They would be safe once they reached the village, and Nynaeve would cure
Tam. He just had to get him there.” – The
Eye of the World, p. 79.
Last time we discussed normalcy in terms of The Wheel
of Time as setup and cut the analysis short so this second installment could
discuss how normalcy is ripped away.
Starting with the fifth chapter, the normalcy is ripped away when the
mythic creatures right out of the stories which mothers told their children to
scare them. Much of the criticism against
The Eye of the World is that Jordan stands in the shadow of J.R.R. Tolkien,
something he admitted much of the book was an homage to, however, Jordan starts
from where Tolkien ends. The Lord of
the Rings includes a point where the Shire, the home of our four main
hobbits, is razed to the ground and taken over by Saruman, the human villain. That is essentially what Jordan does for
Emond’s Field here, though the reader only sees it from the secluded
perspective of Rand on his farm. That fifth
chapter drips with tension as there are knocks on the door and Tam slipping
upstairs to grab a sword, before being attacked by Trollocs. This is the first time in the book the reader
gets a real sense of Rand’s age, he is a child, he only goes into a fight or
flight response. He confronts Narg, a
Trolloc who can speak, something which is seen as out of the ordinary and later
commented on as something showing the Dark One rising and the reason he, Mat,
and Perrin must leave their quiet lifestyle and go on the run. The threat is coming from outside and
encroaching.
The idea of an outside threat is also not entirely
accurate. This is the last time for a
while where the reader will get interaction with Rand’s father, Tam, and the last
things he does is put doubt into Rand’s mind.
Through his delirium he is speaking of a baby in the snow, his wife, and
much of the ramblings come to the point that he may not have been from the Two
Rivers and left. He knows something about
the Trollocs. ““I’d not have thought to
find a heron-mark sword in a place like this,” Lan said…Strange thing for a
sheepherder to buy” – The Eye of the World, p. 106. Tam introduces concepts in his delirium of
the Trolloc Wars and clearly goes outside and his passes that outsider heritage
onto Rand, giving him the sword. He is
an outsider hiding among those on Emond’s Field. It’s also important as Jordan includes,
subtly, this idea that the Two Rivers and Emond’s Field has a more complex and
deep history as Manetheren. Chapter 9, “Tellings
of the Wheel”, has Moiraine giving the Two Rivers folk a history lesson after
deducing that Rand, Mat, and Perrin are what the Trollocs are after. Manetheren is a land which defended itself “Not
a step of ground was given up until it was soaked in blood, but at last the army
of Manetheren was driven back, back to here, to this place you now called Emond’s
Field. And here the Trolloc hordes
surrounded them.” – The Eye of the World, p. 133-134. The inciting incident, on the surface, is an
attack, but metaphorically it is the reveal that this quiet little town is
actually part of the great history and it’s own nation. This is something which will become more
important as the book and series progresses.
Things are changed.
This section of The Eye of the World is also
the first point where we get to deal with perspective and assumptions. As stated previously, the Two River’s folk
are generally superstitious, posting the Dragon’s Fang on the door of the
Winespring Inn, a mark associated with Lews Therin and the breaking of the
world. This is all because of Moiraine
being an Aes Sedai, a group of women believed to be incredibly tricky and possibly
evil. Rand essentially makes a deal with
the devil in allowing Moiraine to heal Tam, but he has to leave with her and
Lan. It’s only Moiraine’s speech in the
end which gets them to back down. The
reader reads Moiraine as untrustworthy, but only through Rand’s
perspective. Rand, who has dreams specifically
telling him not to trust Moiraine from an evil figure and seeing his home
destroyed. There are also little hints
that Moiraine actually does have Rand, Mat, and Perrin’s best interests at
heart and is clearly caring. She is just
as important for the healing of the Two Rivers as Nynaeve. Nynaeve’s cold first impression is also
different here as she and Egwene both become emotional at the destruction and
Rand’s state, starting one little relationship between the characters which we
will discuss in future. Finally, Lan’s
first impression is that of a protector and more standoffish than
Moiraine. Moiraine shows herself as more
compassionate while Lan is questioning and almost looking down on the Two Rivers
folk which is important. Normalcy has
broken and now it’s time to take leave of home and set out on the quest.
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