““If I must learn all this,” Nynaeve broke in stiffly,
“ Would as soon learn something useful.
All this – this . . . . ‘Make the air stir, Nynaeve. Light the candle, Nynaeve. Now put it out. Light it again.’ Pah.” Egwene closed her eyes for a moment. Please, Nynaeve. Please keep a check on your temper…The Amyrlin
was silent for a moment. “Useful…Sometehign useful. You wanted a sword. Suppose a man came at me with a sword. What would I do? Something useful, you can be
sure. This I think.” For an instant, Egwene thought she saw a glow
around the woman at the other end of her bed.
Then the air seemed to thicken; nothing changed that Egwene could see,
but she could surely feel it. She tried
to lifetr arm, it did not budge any more than if she were buried to her neck in
jelly. Nothing could move except her head.”
– The Great Hunt, p. 276.
Looking throughout The Eye of the World, I fear
I have perhaps not done justice to Nynaeve al’Meara and Egwene al’Vere. Yes, I have discussed Nynaeve, her coming to
terms with the idea that she could channel and some of the real world allegory
that implies, and begun to discuss some of her blocks with channeling, but that
actually begins to really form here. “To
the White Tower” is Chapter 18 of The Great Hunt and essentially
chronicles the journey of Egwene and Nynaeve, learning more about the White
Tower, saidar, and the structure between Novices, Accepted, and full Aes
Sedai. The quote above is from one of
their lessons where Siuan Sanche is overseeing them, and ends with her
essentially showing them the lesson.
There’s this quip from the Mistress of Novices that the hard work of Novices
isn’t so bad, at least when compared to the Accepted, and Nynaeve as a
character is the one to be the most like an Aes Sedai, yet is denying it. She’s not taking anything for granted, but is
still at the point where she has a lot to learn in terms of controlling her
temper and essentially letting others in on.
The above quote is Siuan giving the girls both a
lesson and getting Nynaeve to get angry enough to channel, and she rises to the
bait, continuously screaming to be let go until this happens: “Nynaeve squawked
furiously as she slowly rose, still in the sitting position, until her head
almost touched the ceiling…Suddenly the Amyrlin flew backwards her head
rebounded from the wall, and there she stayed” – The Great Hunt, p.
276-277. She is the one giving pushback,
but immediately backs off after this point, Nynaeve realizes that she has gone
too far and needs to back off. Once the
lessons are over Nynaeve’s pride essentially browbeats Egwene into staying
silent about Nynaeve’s essential breaking down.
She’s a character of pride and that pride and stubbornness is what’s
causing this block on her character. There
is a struggle to use honorifics towards the Aes Sedai which is consistent as she
still doesn’t see herself as one of them, the One Power may be a part of her,
but The White Tower and the Aes Sedai will never be (in her mind). This entire chapter is also from an outsider
perspective, all coming from Egwene, who is essentially along for the ride. Egwene is also put against a wall by Siuan
and she is terrified and quiet. The
essay opened with that description and it is Egwene whom Siuan apologizes to,
an apology for forgetting about her in her sparing with Nynaeve. The perspective of Egwene only confirms her
uncertainty from The Eye of the World, she is still looking to Nynaeve
and all of the Aes Sedai as figures of authority and they are essentially both
being manipulated into the choice that the Amyrlin wants. The Tower is in a position where there aren’t
many Novices and the Aes Sedai need all the sisters they can get especially since
Siuan knows that the Dragon has been reborn and the Last Battle is coming.
This manipulation is also what happens throughout the subsequent
three chapters with the character of Selene.
Rand has been constantly losing a lot of himself in Selene since she
appeared. She has been the one coaxing
him towards using Saidin and this is the point where they get the Horn of
Valere and the ruby dagger back, sneaking into a camp. This is Selene’s reaction to finding the
Horn: ““Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin,” Selene said. “’The grave is no bar to my call.’ You will be greater than Artur
Hawkwing ever was.”” – The Great Hunt, p. 296. Rand has no trouble in denying her, but it is
continual. At the opening of the next
chapter, she attempts to get the Horn down using Loial and his timidity to do
so. The case is where they’ve stored the
dagger, Rand completely understanding it’s danger and the fact that nobody
should touch it. This chapter also sees
a giant statue which Selene attempts to get Rand away from, but that also tempts
Rand into nearly using saidin again. It
is described as singing to him, something sweet even though previously there
was the descriptor.
Rand also begins to push Selene away by questioning if
she could be Aes Sedai, to which she reacts as such: “Aes Sedai! Always you hurl that at me!...I am what and
who I am. And that is no Aes Sedai!” – The
Great Hunt, p. 301. He acquiesces and
agrees to take her to Cairhien, but it is Selene’s final actions which are
telling. Once at an inn in Cairhien
(which is a country and a city) there is some expository worldbuilding about
the Great Game of Houses which is something which will be discussed in later
essays once it actually is introduced outside of the brief mention of it being
a political game here, but Selene runs off the next morning, leaving a note. “The
wax had been impressed with a crescent moon and stars. I must leave you for a time. There are too many people here, and I do not
like Caladevwin. I will meet you in
Cairhien. Never think that I am too far
from you. You will b in my thoughts
always as I will be in yours.” – The Great Hunt, p. 318. She’s essentially run at the first sign of
trouble, but the wax seal on the letter is important.
Rand is left confused, but the reader already has been
given some hints about moon imagery way back in “Blood Calls Blood” where Verin’s
reading of the Dark Prophecy announces the walking again of the Daughter of the
Night, implying a connection to the moon.
The moon imagery goes further, Selene being a name taken out of Greek
mythology, a moon goddess outside of Artemis also connected with connotations
of love and infatuation. Infatuation
with Rand is what has been guiding the manipulation and his infatuation back
has been the temptation. The goddess
Selene fell in love with Endymion whom Zeus would put into an eternal sleep so
she could love him forever, as analyzed by Overly Sarcastic Productions as an
example of aesthetic attraction and not love, hence Selene in The Great Hunt,
being infatuated with Rand and not really in love. There is also clearly an identity underneath here,
something I will not spoil, but the name is important for where this character
will be going. Rand doesn’t fall here to
temptation, but that is something that he easily could not have been
overcoming. Next time we will also be
discussing tests, but also getting more into the women of The Wheel of Time
as it’s the first section entirely from the point of view of the female
characters.
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