““Well,” she said after a moment, “I never expected my
travels to take me back to Illian so soon a this.” Her voice was high and she had a flat way of
speaking, but it was not unpleasant. “You
are going to Illian, are you not?”
He tightened his mouth. “Don’t
sulk,” she said. “You left quite a mess
back there, you and that Aielman between you.
The uproar was just beginning when I left.” “You did not tell them?” he said in
surprise. “The townsfolk think the
Aielman chewed through the chain, or broke it with his bare hands. They had not decided which when I left.” She made a sound suspiciously like a
giggle. “Orban was quite loud in his
disgust that his wounds would keep him from hunting down the Aielman
personally.”” – The Dragon Reborn, p. 402.
This has been a four chapter sequence I have been a
bit worried two discuss since it establishes two very important characters for The
Wheel of Time and Perrin’s story in particular. Zarine Bashere, more commonly referred to as
Faile and Perrin’s primary love interest, the falcon referred to in Min’s
prophecies watches as Perrin frees an Aiel from a cage. I will discuss the Aiel later in this essay
and the importance that will play as well as the Pattern twisting events, but
let’s take a minute to discuss Faile.
Her place in the general fandom is often one of immediate dislike due to
several plotlines involving the character, especially one plotline in
particular which spans multiple books, as well as how her relationship with Perrin
develops. Robert Jordan as an author is
rather weak at writing relationships, many of which come out of nowhere and can
feel as if he is just pairing people off to pair people off. Luckily the romance is mostly not one aspect
of The Wheel of Time central to its themes and plot development, but
that doesn’t mean with fourteen very long books it doesn’t come up often. With this preamble, you would think that
Faile’s introduction was terrible, but honestly it isn’t. Jordan actually does a great job of setting
up who the character is, starting as a mysterious woman in a tavern before we
get some description of who she is as she stows away on the ship, its what the
above conversation is taken from and honestly it’s a really interesting one.
She’s unsure of herself and putting on this false
bravado, immediately changing her name from Mandarb to Faile upon being laughed
at by Perrin. “He could not stop the
guffaw that burst out of him. Those
tilted eyes regarded him with heat. “I will
teach you something, farmboy.” Her voice
remained level. Barely. “In the Old Tongue, Mandarb means ‘blade.’ It is a name worthy of a Hunter of the Horn!” He managed to get his laughter under control,
and hardly wheezed at all as he pointed to the rope pen between the masts. “You
see that black stallion?? His name is
Mandarb.” The heat went out of her eyes, and spots of color bloomed on her
cheeks. “Oh. I was born Zarine Bashere, but Zarine is no
name for a Hunter. In the stories,
Hunters have names like Rogosh Eagle-Eye.” She looked so crestfallen that he
hastened to say, “I like the name Zarine. It suits you.”” – The Dragon Reborn, p.
405. This is an almost perfect example
of a meet cute, yes some of Jordan’s chauvinism shows with Perrin declaring a
girl couldn’t be a Hunter for the Horn which is a very odd character choice
(and won’t be the only odd character choice for Perrin in the coming books),
but it’s the start of a nice relationship between two people who are basically
polar opposites yet can find some common ground and form a partnership. We don’t get that development here, at least
not yet since this is just a meet cute and Faile is just meant to be there, but
it’s there.
This of course all happens because Perrin frees an
Aiel from a cage in a sequence that is integral to who Perrin is. There has already been a large sequence
dedicated to Perrin coming upon a man who has gone mad due to being a Wolfbrother,
giving into the animal, and this sequence with Gaul, who introduces himself thusly
““I have been in there since yesterday, wetlander.” He sounded like Lan. Not that their voices or
accents were anything alike, but the Aiel had the same unruffled coolness, that
same calm sureness.. “It will take a
moment for my legs to work. I am Gaul,
of the Imran sect of the Shaarad Aiel, wetlander. I am Shae’en M’taal, A Stone Dog. My water is yours.”” – The Dragon Reborn,
p. 394. Jordan’s introduction gives some
perfect insight into Perrin, he doesn’t like seeing people caged as well as
getting our first taste of Aiel culture.
While the Aiel are from the Waste, a desert region and as such Gaul is
terrified of water, especially seeing people swim and bathe in a river, since
he had never seen water in such quantity before. Jordan calls to attention Gaul’s way of
speaking and the idea of everyone not an Aiel being a wetlander, but not necessarily
as a name which denotes being lesser in some way, just different based on the
geography where they live. There easily
could have been an inherent superiority in terms of their culture, but Jordan avoids
this by immediately creating a bond between Perrin and Gaul, something that is important
for the next section of The Dragon Reborn which will introduce other
Aiel characters. What Jordan does to get
us on Gaul’s side is also have Perrin free him from Whitecloaks in particular,
characters we already know to be evil.
Gaul is searching for He Who Comes with the Dawn, the Aiel name for the
Dragon Reborn, because the world and the Pattern is moving towards the Last
Battle.
The idea of the Pattern moving things towards the Last
Battle is something that occurs through the entire section. Before arriving at the town where Gaul is
being held, there are a sequence of towns where it is clear Rand has been due to
the many things, good and bad, happening: a place where a spring provides new
water after years of being dried up, juxtaposed with a town where crops are
failing and the town is burning. This is
also where Perrin’s dreams return. The
wolf dream with Perrin reestablishes Ba’alzamon’s return to life while Lanfear
declares dreams her domain, something very important to establish that the Forsaken
not actually working together. This
dream is also important as it takes Perrin and makes him actually speak in
depth with Moiraine about being a Wolfbrother, to calm his fears if he is
channeling the One Power, something that he is not actually doing.
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