And here we are. On to the first actual book of the series after finishing the prologue book which well was a whole book as you can tell. But this next book we are now on is a chonker – it could easily be split into 2-3 normal sized books itself. So strap in! We’ve got a very long way to go yet.
I don’t have too much more to say before jumping back in. I guess it is going to be interesting to see how Moiraine and Lan will be getting on under their new dynamic now… since he is now her Warder. I’m still not really accepting of that myself yet I don’t believe Moiraine has really earned him as her Warder but perhaps my mind can be changed as we go into this book.
I also look forward to seeing more Siuan and what she will be getting up to in this book as she remains one of my favourite characters as it stands. And I am also excited to see what other characters we get introduced to as well. And hopefully we shall learn more about the Dark One as well as other surrounding lore. So… let’s dive in.
Still cannot believe Bukama is gone… loved his name.
Prologue – Dragonmount
So this looks to be something that has happened in the past? Probably long, long in the past. Some kind of great catastrophe. The POV character here is called Lews Therin Telamon – a bit of a mouthful.
This guy seems to have lost his mind apparently? Eventually this other guy appears – called Elan Morin Tedronai – or at least that was his name until people started calling him the ‘Betrayer of Hope’ and apparently this Lews person is called the ‘Dragon’ – well that may make sense of his apparent madness then.
Just going to make some notes of things Elan is saying – ‘Once you stood first amoung the Servants. Once you wore the Ring of Tamyrlin, and sat in the High Seat. Once you summoned the Nine Rods of Dominion.’
I am not sure what any of those things are but just put them there cause I am sure they may come up again. And now Elan says apparently Lews defeated him once – humbled him in the Hall of Servants – defeated him at the Gates of Paaran Disen. But now it seems Elan has came back to defeat Lews and seems to be intent in rubbing it in as much as possible and trying to torture him with it – looks like Lews really left a mark on this dude.
Meanwhile Lews is just completely off his rocker, barely even listening to Elan. It looks like Elan has – very painfully – healed Lews madness? And he now realises his wife is dead after all this time calling for her when she was dead on the floor right in front of him. Yikes.
Elan is clearly a darkfriend? Working on the side of the Dark One apparently and he seems quite an important one in that at least from what I can tell? Elan keeps calling Lews Kinslayer. I’m guessing he was the one who murdered or killed his wife and perhaps other family members, I saw Lews sister was mentioned. Did Lews kill them in his madness?
So clearly Elan used to be on Lews side at one point it would seem before joining the Dark One and turning on him which I guess is why they now call him the Betrayer. And now he is trying to convince Lews to join the Dark One with him. Instead Lews uses Saidin – the male half of the One Power which as we know is tainted by the Dark One – to escape from his misery realising he had killed basically everyone around him, again I guess he did it in his madness.
Very interesting. So it seems in Lews grief he pulled in so much saidin that he pretty much killed himself and gave birth to a mountain – the one which I am pretty sure is Dragonmount especially since that is the name of this Prologue chapter. And since then it seems the Dark One has had to wait for the Dragon’s return? If I understand correctly. Damn…
Well, that was a very nice lore injection. Gives us quite a bit of insight.
Chapter 1 – An Empty Road
We appear to have another new POV character – Rand al’Thor who is traveling with his father Tam. It’s very windy! Apparently winter’s have been getting harsher and wolves and bears are becoming issues and dangers.
Oh, so they’re just traveling to deliver some apple brandy and cider… for a festival in their area called Bel Tine. I wonder how this character becomes significant? I mean… if they do at all. It could just be a character that something happens to?
Looks like they might be being followed by some unsettling figure on horseback? Is it a darkfriend maybe? Alas, it seems to have been a phantom because whatever it was was gone – and a strange detail that when Rand had seen it the figure appeared to not be affected by the wind.
Proper ghost, right? Eh, probably not. But it obviously isn’t nothing.
The Coplins and Congars sound charming… But yeah this village life sounds interesting and there is a lot more sense of community in this area where the characters live than I’ve noticed so far elsewhere in the previous book.
Of course the mayor of the village is fat – I feel like that is a common trope haha. So there is quite a bit of world building going on currently for the area we are in and lots of complaining and worry about the harsh and seemingly never-ending winter that is affecting crops and making things dangerous.
But eventually we circle back to that figure Rand saw – his friend Mat has now appeared and it seems he had seen it too. Rand just recited that catchchism that Lan had recited way back in the first chapter of the last book. Cool little throw back. He was doing it to reassure himself and his friend that whatver they had seen was not the Dark One – and I would agree that it certainly would not be – but it could well be a darkfriend… also bad.
I cannot begin to see where this is heading which makes it all the more interesting.
Chapter 2 – Strangers
I am really liking the atmosphere of this village life so far. It is kind of giving me a Lord of the Rings vibe – like in the shire. And this food is making me hungry and I’ve had my dinner!
Oh! It sounds like the boys are discussing Lan and Moiraine – not that they know their names or who they are. It seems they have arrived at the village and are staying at the inn. It has surely got to be related to that other figure that is being seen?
Looks like Moiraine upset the Wisdom – Nynaeve – by calling her a child – except of course Moiraine did not realise she was the Wisdom. Moiraine really needs to think before speaking more often because she does make mistakes like that more than she should.
So there was a mysterious raven watching Rand and his friends and now Moiraine has appearead out of nowhere and also noticed the odd raven as well before it flew off. Hmm.
It seems Moiraine may have attained that ageless look that Aes Sedai get. Rand also seems smitten by her – I shake my head. Moiraine has these kids wrapped around her finger. I think Rand can kind of tell there is more to Moiraine but other than that they are all being a bit foolish I think.
Moiraine is not necessarily a bad person – far from it – although she can be quite petty at times – but Aes Sedai in general have this manipulative nature about them from what I’ve seen so far. So, the boys are probably not in the best situation around her, but it could be far worse I guess.
Ah, so they know of Warders in the village and some of them think Lan could be one but another only thinks warders are legends. One of them also mentions that warders are only from the Blight – which I don’t believe is true? But in the case of Lan of course… he actually is.
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