Make sure to check out Part 2 here first.
Chapter 3 – Practice
SPOILERS ARE AHEAD – YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
So in this chapter we begin with who are probably a very panicked Moiraine and Siuan. We learn a bit more about the Ajahs and also of the system of teaching – the Accepted often taught the Novices? That’s a lot of responsibility. I also see that there are two Aes Sedai mentioned here – Meilyn and Larelle who have the last name of Sedai – is that their actual last name or is it just polite to call them Sedai as a last name?
Again I like how the relationship between Moiraine and Siuan is being fleshed out and how it is often Moiraine who follows while Siuan lead – despite Moiraine coming from riches and Siuan from not-so-riches. It’s obviously not the dynamic you’d assume of two people of these backgrounds but that is what makes it more interesting.
Eventually we finally get to the big glaring elephant in the room which gives us some more information on the Dark One. Apparently the world had been waiting a very, very long time for the ‘Prophecies of the Dragon’ to be fulfilled and that they also told of the world’s only hope. It says the Dark One would be reborn apparently where the man he had once been had died. So this seems to confirm that he somehow has the ability to return despite having ‘died’ but without more information on what happened before I would not be sure what circumstances would be required to make such things possible.
Now I might be getting a bit confused here because it does say a child will be born who is to face the Dark One? Now I am not sure if this child is the one being born on Dragonmount or whether it is the Dark One being reborn there. Little confused there. But the prophecy makes sure to not make clear if he would beat the Dark One or not – because that would be way too easy, right? It also says that the War of the Shadow and the Breaking of the World was brought on by the Dark One ALMOST breaking into the world of humankind? I am not sure what to make of that but it does make me think if he were actually able to break in fully everyone would just be absolutely doomed?
But then I think did he break free into the world before then? Because in the book it does say that the infant’s birth meant the Dark One would break free again, as the child is born to face the Dark One in Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle. So he has broken free into the world of humankind before the War of the Shadow?
We also now hear of saidin – the male half of the One Power – which answers my question from before of whether males could do magic. But apparently it is bad as it is tainted by the Dark One. It also sounds like trying to learn the One Power can be dangerous for the person – whether male or female – and that they may not survive, especially without a teacher. The males who did learn the One Power would go on to do bad things – some becoming false Dragons – does this mean claiming to be the Dark One returned? And they eventually go mad if not caught and brought to Tar Valon to be cut off from the One Power. Unfortunate for men then I guess, no magic without becoming bad and/or going mad.
‘Madmen who could tap into the One Power that turned the Wheel of Time and drove the universe’ – This is the first time the book series title has appeared and so it is something, although I don’t know enough to say what it is.
Then I get more confused when it says – ”And the Prophecies said that the Dragon Reborn would bring a new Breaking of the World. Would his victory be any better than a victory by the Dark One’. So by the sounds of that the Dragon Reborn and the Dark One are not the same but that Moiraine believes a victory by the Dragon Reborn would still be better as they could rebuild with time, while the Dark One would leave nothing basically and no chance for life to recover. Still not fully understanding what the Dragon is though.
The trumpets are also still going and I am ever more curious to what that is about, although I suspect we will not found out until we get back to Lan.
It sounds also like the numbers at the White Tower are dwindling amoung all groupings – Novices, Accepted, Aes Sedai, and that the Tower was made to house many, many more than there currently are. Moiraine believes the Tower is failing. I mean you’d think it would suggest something is not right.
‘I was too cold to wait, Moiraine,’ she said defensively. ‘Besides, you must remember Akarrin’s lecture two weeks ago. ‘”You must know the rules to the letter, “‘ she quoted, ‘”and live with them before you can know which rules you may break and when.” I like the logic Siuan is using here to break the rules but also I still don’t really understand why they are not suppose to use the One Power for tasks, such as lighting a fire in the room. May as well if you can, right? I probably would. And so what if the lecture was about being Aes Sedai and not an Accepted, that’s just a point of view right? hehe.
I also get the whole pulling pranks thing I guess. In a place that seems so serious and strict, as well as all that stressful studying and work, it’s no wonder pranks may be resorted to in order to let off steam and relieve tension, and have a little bit of fun in an otherwise almost exclusively serious and mundane environment.
saidar sounds both fun but also terrifying. On one hand the experience of it seems exciting and out-of-this-world but control was also important lest you end up burning the ability to channel the One Power out of yourself or worse killing yourself. It also sounds like it can wear you out quite easily. Although Moiraine seems to think losing the ability to channel would actually be worse than death. I guess she considers it a very important part of herself? I doubt it is something we ourselves could understand without the experience. To me death is worse.
As we learn about how weaves work in the magic the Reds are mentioned, which seem to be Aes Sedai that hunt down (and by the sounds of it often kill) men wielding the One Power. They speak of whether the Reds will hunt down the ‘boychild’ who is said to become the ‘Dragon Reborn’ who will fight the Dark One in the Last Battle? If I understand that correctly, I think I now kind of get it. The Dragon Reborn is a male who will use the One Power to take on the Dark One. What a dilemma as clearly you would think that then means the Dragon Reborn will also possibly go bad and certainly go mad? So they would still have to try and deal with him even if he defeats the Dark One – but then again Saidin has the taint of the Dark One so can it not use that fact against the Dragon Reborn? Lots to consider I guess.
Also it is now known the One Power is made up of the Five Powers – Air, Fire, Earth, Spirit, and Light. Air, Fire, and Earth sound fairly typical, Light sounds a bit different but not unheard of, but what is Spirit? That sounds unique. Also there is no Dark to balance out the Light? Or maybe it just does not work in that way. Or maybe Sardin is the Dark? Considering it is tainted by the literal Dark One.
Also trying to use the magic to tickle as a distraction for Moiraine was fowl, I know she managed to somehow not let it bother her, but for me there’s no way you can just ignore getting tickled. Yikes.
We meet another new character by the name of Myrelle Berengari, another Accepted, and also a friend of Moiraine and Siuan. She busts right up on them pretty much and they almost give the secret away to her and somehow she knows they are hiding something. Myrelle does not have much chill on the distractions she directs at Moiraine as they continue the practice. Damn! Yet even then it sounds like the real test will be even more savage.
We soon meet a seemingly less friendly character – Tarna Feir – Another Accepted. She does not seem very fun but at the same time I do not want to judge her immediately. Not everyone is the same and some people can seem hard and stern when in reality they are not so bad. So I shall wait to see how her character develops yet. Anyway, it seems word has spread that Gitara is dead – and Tarna also calls her ‘Gitara Sedai’ so it really does seem that Sedai as a last name/title is used in place of the actual last name of Aes Sedai as respect, at least within the Tower?
Zemaille and the Sea Folk sound interesting. And only four of their kind were currently Aes Sedai. Is that a proportion thing as in there are not as many of them or is it just rarer for them to get the spark? It also seems they want to try and develop it themselves a bit before getting a teacher – which if I recall can be dangerous. And the Tuatha’an too, which are like traveler people – but it seems they are quite keen to get rid of anyone among them with the spark, Aisling Noon being one of them. I notice also, unrelated, that height description has been used quite often so far in most character introductions, with some kind of height comparison with other characters already introduced.
Ah, so the Amyrlin is getting those in the Tower to go out and start collecting information on births in order to track down the prophecised boychild – AKA the Dragon Reborn. I guess this means we shall be following Moiraine on her adventures outside of the Tower.
The Green Ajah is the Battle Ajah. I hope we learn more about each Ajah at some point to get a better understanding of what they are. Something called Warders have also been mentioned and naturally I am curious.
We learn a little bit more about the Children of the Light, or the Whitecloaks as they also seem to be called. They apparently hate the Aes Sedai for using the One Power and as such see them as Darkfriends and will happily kill them for such ‘blasphemy’ – yet for some odd reason they came to defend Tar Valon anyway. Maybe the city more than the tower?
So yeah, that is the end of that chapter. And I guess it was called ‘Practice’ because they were practicing magic at one point. We learned quite a lot and things are about to get exciting. Are only the Accepted heading out? It sounded that way. And now the Tower is going to be even more empty.
Thank you for reading this post, if you have any queries please Email me, you can find my Email in the Contacts & Community section. Please also follow The Weekly Rambler on Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads and Facebook which you can access through the buttons at the bottom of this website (Threads is accessed via Instagram). You can also use the social media buttons under each blogpost to share with your family, friends and associates.
You can also subscribe to Email notifications at the right-side of this website to know whenever a new post goes up (you can easily unsubscribe from this at any time through a button in each Email notification), or alternatively you can use an RSS Feed Reader.