The Great Hunt by: Robert Jordan: Permanent Wounds (Chapters 47 to 50)

 

““It has to be there at the Last Battle,” Mat said, licking his lips.  “Nothing says it can’t be used before then.”  He pulled the Horn free of its lashings and looked at them anxiously.  “Nothing says it can’t.”…Mat’s hand shook as he raised the Horn of Valere to his lips.  It was a clear note, golden as the Horn was golden.  The trees around them seemed to resonate with it, and the ground under their feet, the sky overhead.  That one long sound encompassed everything.  Out of nowhere, a fog began to rise.” – The Great Hunt, p. 658-659.

 

Mat Cauthon has been one of the characters who hasn’t gotten his time to shine, being sidelined with the curse of the ruby dagger infecting him early enough in The Eye of the World that he hasn’t actually done much except represent the superstition of Rand being able to channel.  It’s always been Mat who is resistant to Rand throughout The Great Hunt (and the one who comes to the conclusion he could actually be the Dragon Reborn) and the one who outside of Rand is most suspicious of Aes Sedai.  He’s the one Perrin has to hide the Wolfbrother nature from, and the one who gives the most pushback anytime anything magical happens.  So him being the one to take the Horn of Valere and actually blow it is the first sign of any actual growth.  Now, there will be much more of that and more discussion of Mat when I get to The Dragon Reborn, but this is an immediate step in the right direction for Mat and his character.  This ties him to the Horn of Valere, meaning that he will have to be the one to blow it at the Last Battle.  He calls upon the heroes of ages past, mythic figures who actually existed and have been mentioned throughout the previous two novels.

 

The heroes actually have to rally behind the Dragon as the Dragon is tied to the Horn, as well as Mat being now bound to blowing it at the Last Battle: “I have fought by your side times beyond number, Lews Therin, and faced you as many more.  The Wheel spins us out for its purposes, not ours, to serve the Pattern.  I know you, if you do not know yourself.  We will drive these invaders out for you…Have you the banner?” – The Great Hunt, p. 661.  This is what gets Rand to take out the Dragon Banner and fly it for the first time in the series, making it clear that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, once again.  While Jordan’s prose makes it clear throughout The Great Hunt that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, as a character he has plausible deniability that it might be somebody else and the idea is that he could be used.  Perrin is the one to actually carry the Dragon Banner here, and once the battle is over is the only one left with Rand and Moiraine (who comes right after the battle is over).  He is the one who still shares the burden with Rand, not Mat.  Mat is in pain and off to be healed, but Perrin is the one actually wrapped in the Pattern.  He’s the one who the Whitecloaks fear (and are sending to word that he is the Darkfriend that put the Dark One’s face in the sky) and communicates with wolves.  There is a small fight with Ba’alzamon which leaves Rand injured.  He is healed but this happens when he awakens “He raised his hands to run them over his face, and stopped, staring at his palms in shcok.  There was a heron branded across his left palm, too, now, to match the one on his right, every line, clean and true.  Once the heron to mark his path; Twice the heron to name him true. “No!”” – The Great Hunt, p. 674.  This is the moment where Rand can no longer deny his fate.  Verin and Moiraine neither can heal the herons so it is something which further cements the fact that Rand is destined to do this.  ““You must choose, Rand,” Moiraine said. “The world will be broken whether you break it or not.  Tarmon Gai’don will come, and that alone will tear the world apart.  Will you still try to hide from what you are, and leave the world to the Last Battle undefended?  Choose.”  They were all watching him, all waiting.  Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.  He made his choice.” – The Great Hunt, p. 679.

 

Duplicity ends up being a theme of this ending.  Ba’alzamon who has been claiming to be the Dark One is revealed not to be the Dark One here, Moiraine convincing Rand that it won’t be that easy.  Ba’alzamon, while a sufficient threat, does not match the world ending threat of the Dark One who remains completely off-page at this point.  He’s really Ishamael, the Forsaken seen in the prologue of The Eye of the World so there is that deep connection to the Dragon.  There is also the matter of either Moiraine or Verin lying.  When she first appeared Verin claimed Moiraine sent her, but here Moiraine claims she did nothing, starting off the question of which Aes Sedai do we trust.  One of them is clearly of the Black Ajah due to the Oaths that Aes Sedai cannot lie except the evil ones and one of them is lying.  And finally there’s the question of who found and healed Rand, something neither Moiraine or Verin know.  In between the battle and Rand awakening, there is a chapter from Min’s perspective, where she and the others find the injured Rand and are confronted by a woman, ““Not Rand al’ Thor,” saida  musical voice from the door.  “Lews Therin Telamon.  The Dragon Reborn.”  Min stared.  She was the most beautiful woman Min had ever seen, with pale, smooth skin, and long, black hair, and eyes as dark as night.  Her dress was a white that would make snow seem dingy, belted in silver.  All her jewelry was silver.” – The Great Hunt, p. 670-671.  From this description it is clear she is Selene who has been following and tempting Rand throughout the novel, but here’s where we get the reveal where she states “I am called Lanfear, girl…Lews Therin was and is mine, girl.  Tend him well for me until I come for him” – The Great Hunt, p. 671.  This duplicity begins something very odd about Selene/Lanfear, and that’s her motives.  She is motivated by love for Lews Therin (and by extension Rand, whom she sees as Lews Therin), so much so that she has turned to the Dark One as a Forsaken.  As a character she is motivated by getting her man to love her which at least here is oddly regressive, though there is just as much manipulation and seeking of power implied here.  She’s essentially in the role of Lady Macbeth, though at least for now, without the breakdown of the later half of Macbeth.

 

But with those reveals, The Great Hunt comes to a close.  I called The Eye of the World as a book all about death and rebirth, while The Great Hunt follows  more standard hero’s journey segment, that of ignoring the call.  It’s all about Rand attempting to deny that he is the Dragon Reborn and only accepts it tentatively right at the end of the book.  It’s also about Nynaeve finding her own acceptance among the Aes Sedai, using the Tower as a means to an end to help protect Rand while Egwene has to accept that she is still a child.  Mat is confronted with a world that’s bigger than he is and Perrin accepts that he can actually use fantastic powers.  This is still setting the stage for the point where the acceptance of those roles are meant to be taken up.