“The quarterstaff flicked past Galad’s sword and in
quick succession struck knee, wrist, and ribs and finally thrust into Galad’s
stomach like a spear. With a groan,
Galad folded over, fighting not to fall.
The staff quivered in Mat’s hands, on the point of a final crushing
thrust to the throat. Galad sank to the
ground. Mat almost dropped the
quarterstaff when he realized what he had been about to do. Win, not kill. Light, what was I thinking? Reflexively he grounded the butt of the staff,
as soon as he did he had to clutch at it to hold himself erect. Hunger hollowed him like a knife reaming
marrow from a bone.” – The Dragon Reborn, p. 286.
At this point in The Dragon Reborn, Mat Cauthon
has begun his rehabilitation both physically within the confines of the novel
and in the eyes of the reader as he has been given his own point of view
chapters and been healed from the curse of the ruby dagger. The three chapters we are covering today
splits its time between Mat, in an iconic section which is integral to rehabilitating
him, and Elayne, Egwene, and Nynaeve doing mostly recap of the ter’angreal
stolen by the Black Ajah with an appearance from Else Grinwell in both sequences,
the daughter of a farmer Rand and Mat stayed with in The Eye of the World. This of course isn’t actually Else Grinwell,
though only Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne have any idea to her true identity as
she disappears after sneaking into their room and is replaced by a tall,
beautiful woman, clearly Lanfear. There
are also discussions of Egwene’s dreams which might have been excursions into
the world of dreams which include some seen in Min’s vision serving as a
reminder of things already featured.
Things added here include the Seanchan involving Mat and the White
Tower, Mat speaking the Old Tongue, Perrin leading wolves, and dragons on Rand’s
arms as well as being trapped when reaching for a sword. The trap is further confirmed to be in Tear
and for all of them on discovery of artifacts from Tear left to tempt the girls
away. This sequence is mainly for a lot of
recap and character dynamics, as this further establishes the dynamic between
the girls as Elayne is about to become a more major player. It is telling that we have been away from
Perrin and still have several chapters before we get back to Perrin, he will
only reappear as we get close to the climax and reunion of the characters, one
final time.
Mat’s singular chapter is incredibly important as this
is the first point where we are allowed to see some of the aftereffects of the
healing. To go along with the prediction
about the Old Tongue, there is a hint as he mutters it’s time to roll the dice,
but it is implied that he says it in the Old Tongue itself. He is not allowed to leave the tower, a guard
from Illian informs him that the Aes Sedai will be keeping him in the city,
something that they believe is for theft and not simple Healing, giving Mat
just enough information that the sisters want him there. This leads to the quarterstaff sequence: Mat
needs money and he comes across Galad and Gawyn training in the yard with
swords. He bets them two marks each that
he can beat them with a quarterstaff, something that he is able to do with
ease, culminating in the fear that he might have killed them. This is an interesting insight into Mat’s
morality as while he does not like the upper classes, be it royalty or Aes
Sedai, he doesn’t wish to see them killed.
He also responds that he is from Manetheren and is immediately regretful
of mentioning Rand and life in the Two Rivers.
Importantly, he is also now unsure of himself: “He thought that if he
parted his coat, he would see a hole where his stomach should have been, a hole
growing larger as it pulled the rest of him in.
But he hardly thought of hunger.
He kept hearing voices in his head. You speak the Old Tongue, lad? Manetheren. It made him shiver. Light help me, I keep digging myself
deeper. I have to get out of here. But how?
He hobbled back towards the Tower proper like an old, old man. How?” – The Dragon Reborn, p. 288. Mat Cauthon has lost his sense of identity and
the only way to regain it is to gamble his way out of the White Tower and make
a name for himself away from anywhere that Aes Sedai can get to him.
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