Wheel of Time (Series Three) Critique 2/4

*****SPOILERS*****

 

 

Clever: Woman

 

Much thought was given to Liandrin.

Liandrin returns to Tanchico, her birthplace. She storms a wedding dressed in a funeral veil, killing everyone to save the young girl from marrying an old man. Death and a funeral veil are a good connection. Also, veils are worn at funerals, when life has ended; with the wedding guests dead, the girl’s abuse has ended, too.

Liandrin’s accent slips into the native Tanchico accent (Scouser) when she’s destroying the wedding. Her slight loss of control in this situation (in which a girl has no control) foreshadows that this happened to her.

 

There’s clever business with other powerful women.

Alanna tells the two girl channelers how to heal, comparing it to weaving wool. Considering doing magic is called weaving, this is perfect analogy, especially considering people of the Two Rivers are shepherds.

Elaida always complained how basic Siuan’s rooms were, saying kings come here so it should look magnificent. Yes, beauty and riches show power and success. But royals being put in basic chairs in a basic room would humble them and thus make them more pliant to the Amyrlin Seat. Elaida doesn’t appreciate how power has many forms.

We see a flash back to Queen Morgase, newly crowned. She asks three women for their fealty. They get on their knees and give it, just for the guards to give them death by slitting their throats from behind. As the ladies were on their knees, it made it more difficult for them to get away and to fight back. One of the victims was elderly and the other just a girl, showing how ruthless Morgase is.

 

 

Clever: Connections

 

Rand and Moraine come to a tree the Aiel consider important.

A sapling from this tree was once given as a gift to Moraine’s city. But then her uncle cut this new tree down to make a throne. This is what started the Aiel War, leading to the Aiel hunting the uncle down to the slopes of the Dragon Mountain.

One of these Aiel was Rand’s mum and she gave birth to him there. Being of the Aiel blood, being born on the Dragon Mountain, and being raised outside of the Aiel Waste are the criteria of the Dragon Reborn.

So Rand and Moraine have been linked since before Rand was born.

 

Loial saves Chiad’s life, meaning she owes Loial toh (a sense of duty/obligation). As such, Chiad follows Loial around. Because Bain goes wherever Chiad goes, Bain joins.

            Before the fight at the Two Rivers, the trio play maiden’s kiss (maidens hold a spear to someone’s neck and, if their kiss isn’t good enough, the spear goes a little deeper into the skin). Loial’s kiss is bad but the Aiel don’t want to kill him. To justify stopping, they say they didn’t ask the Roofmistress’ permission to play.

            Loial tells them that, because they just saved his life, Chiad’s toh is paid. As such, they’re safe from the battle. Chiad realises Loial did this on purpose and complains that Loial cheated her from her toh.

            But then Bain steps in. She says that Loial’s actions right now saved them from death in the upcoming battle, hence Bain now owes Loial toh. And as Chiad goes where Bain goes, they stay with Loial a little longer.

 

 

Clever: Aiel

 

Aiel enter Rhuidean to become Chiefs and Wise Ones. They see visions of how the Aiel came to be.

When Rand and Moraine enter Rhuidean, the Wise Ones spoke in perfect unison. They call Rand and Moraine ghosts and say ghosts shouldn’t ‘haunt the living’ by talking to them. Considering the truth of what Aiel see in Rhuidean literally makes some Aiel go mad, the visions in the city are haunting so they shouldn’t be shared.

There’s also the obvious observation. Being ghosts symbolises the death and rebirth of an Aiel becoming either Chief or Wise One.

Finally, the Wise Ones spoke their instructions in perfect unison. That was spooky and works well with the haunting theme.

 

The Rhuidean visions show the origin of the Aiel people.

Aiel hate the Tuatha’an for being pacifists. Aiel hate oathbreakers. In the Rhuidean visions, we see that the Aiel were once Tuatha’an who broke their oaths of nonviolence.

Aiel think using swords are dishonourable; instead, they use spears. In the visions, we see that the Tuatha’an say swords are for killing whereas spears are for feeding. For both, swords are dishonourable, but for completely different reasons: swords aren’t dishonourable because of how they’re used to fight but because fighting itself is dishonourable. The Aiel have been duped. 

Essentially, everything the Aiel believe in is turned upside-down in Rhuidean. Shock, disbelief, embarrassment… all the emotions would be flowing.