Wheel of Time 11: Knife of Dreams
May. 4th, 2020 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
primeidealSo I thought the title was a reference to the ter'angreal Aviendha finds and realizes how to use, although that...doesn't have anything to do with dreams. Based on the epigraph, it's apparently a quote from Madoc Coumadrin, a historic general who Mat quotes several times. Same initials, and Madoc sounds a little like Matrim (or maybe I just have "A Swiftly Tilting Planet" on the brain), is that a more specific connection than usual?
Anyway.
Prologue: Someone straight-up murders the entire Seanchan Imperial family, leaving Tuon as the only remotely likely Empress. I assume this is Semirhage, she just teleports there and back? None of the other Forsaken are established in Seanchan.
The Shaido have a drinking problem
The "Chair of Pardon" is basically a defense attorney for White Tower trials, but if the defendant is found guilty the lawyer faces the same punishment. This doesn't seem like the best system.
2. Elaida's first prophecy was that the royal line of Andor will be key to winning the Last Battle. The funny thing is that this could be pretty much anyone. Tigraine? Rand? Elayne? Galad stalling Demandred? Gawyn, uh, giving Egwene less to live for? (Big Vin/Elend vibes from these two.)
4. Perrin tries to promise that he won't try to remake Manetheren. Does anything really come of this? I guess the Two Rivers becomes its own thing.
5. Sevanna and Therava argue about the future of the Shaido--should they settle in place and try to grow crops? Keep raiding on the move? This is mostly interesting to me in the context of "Warrior of the Altaii," where whether the nomadic people can or will adapt to agricultural life is more a point of tension. Also ties in with Sevanna being less traditionally Aiel, the mirror of Cha Faile and the Cairhien kids. (Cha Faile and the Cairhien Kids is also the name of my new band.)
Some of the Aiel don't like rain, despite it being awesome for preventing drought and growing crops and stuff.
Haha, Faile speaks the old tongue, so she recognizes that Sammael was taunting the Shaido by calling his fake teleporters "fool boxes."
6. Olver: Jain Farstrider is the awesomest.
Noal: Nah, he wasn't that great.
Mat: Don't you dare take away his hero, we want him to enjoy reading. There's a fic.
8. Mat has the same questions I do about "so how do the Finn get memories of the dying."
Tinkers want to be in Seanchan rule where it's safe. Interesting take on the limits of pacifism, they're willing to tolerate other people
9. Tuon's mother had lots of children to ensure that one of them will be a competent heir even if the weaklings get assassinated. Will Tuon expect lots of her own? In the end she's like "well now I'm pregnant, who needs a baby daddy."
11. "Where are you going?" "The bathroom, if you must know." Haha, at least we have a fantasy where people go to the bathroom, although I don't really trust Jordan with that either.
12. Perrin wants to ride a raken!
13. Per Egwene, retired Aes Sedai will have to follow Kin rules. Is that just the one about authority is by age, not strength in the Power? Last I checked the Kin had vows of celibacy/couldn't marry and I don't think the Aes Sedai will want to unilaterally accept that one... (Although by the time they're Kin-age, who knows.)
14. Elayne is tired of people pointing out her clothes are wet, relatable.
15. One of the Warders points out that women make good students for learning the sword because they don't assume they know anything, whereas men are cocksure and even if they sound confident, won't really learn. Relatable for math/stereotype threat...
16. Metal holds the "finding" weave, which explains what Moiraine did way back in the beginning with the coins.
17. Lots of places (Caemlyn palace, stone of Tear, even the White Tower) have their rooms being shifted around as part of the general evilness with the pattern. Setting up the big fight at the end of book 12.
It's pretty lucky that Dyelin doesn't want to be queen, her reason given later is "too much work already being a Lady, the throne changing houses isn't great unless the incumbent is incompetent, Elayne knows Rand and that's probably...useful" But still. Feels like another convenient ta'veren-type effect.
Reanne dies :( She's someone I barely remember from previous readthroughs, for some of these books you have to go at them almost all at once to get a sense of the minor characters and get attached to them. RIP in pieces.
18. Lews Therin figures out that balefire is the connection between him/Rand and Moridin
19. Ogier kiss by booping noses, cuuuuuuuute :)
Loial's mother and some other influential Ogier want to open the magic book to take them back to their home dimension (the parallel universes thing was another big deal in WotA), but Loial is like "I need to stay to finish my book." This part is kind of sad, because Jordan died after this book was completed and never got to the end of his creation, but that's probably not the parallel. Although Loial was hanging out with Karldin the Asha'man last book, that could be an interesting "handoff" if I wanted to go that way. (Not that kind of handoff, Rand.)
20. Verin just walks out on Rand, leaving a note behind like Moiraine, to go do the stuff she does in book 12. :(
Min: Loial, I will make Rand answer your questions. Now, I want to see that post-canon scene too.
21. Another line about "Rand is the only child of a Maiden to return to them." Now that that prophecy is fulfilled, will Maidens be able to raise kids? There was Aviendha's vision, but she retired to be a Wise One.
I feel like they've mentioned "southern industry" a couple times. Is that a thing? I guess the Borderlanders can't be industrious because they're busy guarding the Blight. Or hunting down Rand to fulfill a stupid old prophecy, I guess.
22. For the Sea Folk: picking someone to be the Mistress of the Ships who isn't already in the First Twelve is rare, but not unheard of. Parallel to Egwene--"she's the Amyrlin Seat, therefore she is Aes Sedai now"?
Looks like Rand can summon the Mistress of the Ships, as well as vice versa.
The Amayar thing is creepy. Parallel to the Ogier being like "well, we're leaving this dimension now"? It is kind of, hmm, symbolically convenient that only the female sa'angreal exploded, Rand gets to keep the male one until next book when he blows it up in a fit of pique.
23. "We twisted Myrelle's arm into saving yet another Warder whose Aes Sedai died." "How do you twist Myrelle's arm?" I don't think any of these people know about Lan, but it sounds like blackmail.
24. Ghosts wandering the White Tower. Egwene is chill. "Well, this was their home too, they can share it with us." D'aww.
25. Galina beat Tarna's block out of her...then propositioned her to be pillow-friends. Eek. I feel like this tells us some stuff about Jordan's interpretation of the "well we're only women here so let's date" trope.
Aludra can beat Thom at stones, which is rare, but not often.
27. There aren't many situations which can be improved with balefire but I feel like Rand running across the box of male a'dam was one of them.
28. Morgase and the scarf!! I love that Rand calls this out in his list of heroic moments at the end. Although maybe that was because they were supposed to have sexytimes in an early version of book 1.
30. Many of the Shaido are returning to the Waste. Not sure how that will work out given the agricultural stuff above and Aviendha's viewings. Also, what about the (surviving) brotherless?
Fic ideas: the Olver and Noal stuff from chapter 6, Amayar. Possibly Loial but maybe not till later.
Anyway.
Prologue: Someone straight-up murders the entire Seanchan Imperial family, leaving Tuon as the only remotely likely Empress. I assume this is Semirhage, she just teleports there and back? None of the other Forsaken are established in Seanchan.
The Shaido have a drinking problem
The "Chair of Pardon" is basically a defense attorney for White Tower trials, but if the defendant is found guilty the lawyer faces the same punishment. This doesn't seem like the best system.
2. Elaida's first prophecy was that the royal line of Andor will be key to winning the Last Battle. The funny thing is that this could be pretty much anyone. Tigraine? Rand? Elayne? Galad stalling Demandred? Gawyn, uh, giving Egwene less to live for? (Big Vin/Elend vibes from these two.)
4. Perrin tries to promise that he won't try to remake Manetheren. Does anything really come of this? I guess the Two Rivers becomes its own thing.
5. Sevanna and Therava argue about the future of the Shaido--should they settle in place and try to grow crops? Keep raiding on the move? This is mostly interesting to me in the context of "Warrior of the Altaii," where whether the nomadic people can or will adapt to agricultural life is more a point of tension. Also ties in with Sevanna being less traditionally Aiel, the mirror of Cha Faile and the Cairhien kids. (Cha Faile and the Cairhien Kids is also the name of my new band.)
Some of the Aiel don't like rain, despite it being awesome for preventing drought and growing crops and stuff.
Haha, Faile speaks the old tongue, so she recognizes that Sammael was taunting the Shaido by calling his fake teleporters "fool boxes."
6. Olver: Jain Farstrider is the awesomest.
Noal: Nah, he wasn't that great.
Mat: Don't you dare take away his hero, we want him to enjoy reading. There's a fic.
8. Mat has the same questions I do about "so how do the Finn get memories of the dying."
Tinkers want to be in Seanchan rule where it's safe. Interesting take on the limits of pacifism, they're willing to tolerate other people
9. Tuon's mother had lots of children to ensure that one of them will be a competent heir even if the weaklings get assassinated. Will Tuon expect lots of her own? In the end she's like "well now I'm pregnant, who needs a baby daddy."
11. "Where are you going?" "The bathroom, if you must know." Haha, at least we have a fantasy where people go to the bathroom, although I don't really trust Jordan with that either.
12. Perrin wants to ride a raken!
13. Per Egwene, retired Aes Sedai will have to follow Kin rules. Is that just the one about authority is by age, not strength in the Power? Last I checked the Kin had vows of celibacy/couldn't marry and I don't think the Aes Sedai will want to unilaterally accept that one... (Although by the time they're Kin-age, who knows.)
14. Elayne is tired of people pointing out her clothes are wet, relatable.
15. One of the Warders points out that women make good students for learning the sword because they don't assume they know anything, whereas men are cocksure and even if they sound confident, won't really learn. Relatable for math/stereotype threat...
16. Metal holds the "finding" weave, which explains what Moiraine did way back in the beginning with the coins.
17. Lots of places (Caemlyn palace, stone of Tear, even the White Tower) have their rooms being shifted around as part of the general evilness with the pattern. Setting up the big fight at the end of book 12.
It's pretty lucky that Dyelin doesn't want to be queen, her reason given later is "too much work already being a Lady, the throne changing houses isn't great unless the incumbent is incompetent, Elayne knows Rand and that's probably...useful" But still. Feels like another convenient ta'veren-type effect.
Reanne dies :( She's someone I barely remember from previous readthroughs, for some of these books you have to go at them almost all at once to get a sense of the minor characters and get attached to them. RIP in pieces.
18. Lews Therin figures out that balefire is the connection between him/Rand and Moridin
19. Ogier kiss by booping noses, cuuuuuuuute :)
Loial's mother and some other influential Ogier want to open the magic book to take them back to their home dimension (the parallel universes thing was another big deal in WotA), but Loial is like "I need to stay to finish my book." This part is kind of sad, because Jordan died after this book was completed and never got to the end of his creation, but that's probably not the parallel. Although Loial was hanging out with Karldin the Asha'man last book, that could be an interesting "handoff" if I wanted to go that way. (Not that kind of handoff, Rand.)
20. Verin just walks out on Rand, leaving a note behind like Moiraine, to go do the stuff she does in book 12. :(
Min: Loial, I will make Rand answer your questions. Now, I want to see that post-canon scene too.
21. Another line about "Rand is the only child of a Maiden to return to them." Now that that prophecy is fulfilled, will Maidens be able to raise kids? There was Aviendha's vision, but she retired to be a Wise One.
I feel like they've mentioned "southern industry" a couple times. Is that a thing? I guess the Borderlanders can't be industrious because they're busy guarding the Blight. Or hunting down Rand to fulfill a stupid old prophecy, I guess.
22. For the Sea Folk: picking someone to be the Mistress of the Ships who isn't already in the First Twelve is rare, but not unheard of. Parallel to Egwene--"she's the Amyrlin Seat, therefore she is Aes Sedai now"?
Looks like Rand can summon the Mistress of the Ships, as well as vice versa.
The Amayar thing is creepy. Parallel to the Ogier being like "well, we're leaving this dimension now"? It is kind of, hmm, symbolically convenient that only the female sa'angreal exploded, Rand gets to keep the male one until next book when he blows it up in a fit of pique.
23. "We twisted Myrelle's arm into saving yet another Warder whose Aes Sedai died." "How do you twist Myrelle's arm?" I don't think any of these people know about Lan, but it sounds like blackmail.
24. Ghosts wandering the White Tower. Egwene is chill. "Well, this was their home too, they can share it with us." D'aww.
25. Galina beat Tarna's block out of her...then propositioned her to be pillow-friends. Eek. I feel like this tells us some stuff about Jordan's interpretation of the "well we're only women here so let's date" trope.
Aludra can beat Thom at stones, which is rare, but not often.
27. There aren't many situations which can be improved with balefire but I feel like Rand running across the box of male a'dam was one of them.
28. Morgase and the scarf!! I love that Rand calls this out in his list of heroic moments at the end. Although maybe that was because they were supposed to have sexytimes in an early version of book 1.
30. Many of the Shaido are returning to the Waste. Not sure how that will work out given the agricultural stuff above and Aviendha's viewings. Also, what about the (surviving) brotherless?
Fic ideas: the Olver and Noal stuff from chapter 6, Amayar. Possibly Loial but maybe not till later.
