Books The Wheel of Time Reading The Wheel of Time: Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan Wrestle with Control in The Gathering Storm (Part 12) We’re checking in with Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan this week. By Sylas K Barrett | Published on December 16, 2025 Comment 0 Share New Share For the final Reading The Wheel of Time of 2025, we’ll be covering chapters 17 and 18 of The Gathering Storm. The title of chapter 17, “Questions of Control” is applicable to the following chapter as well, as we see first Cadsuane, then Perrin, and finally Siuan, struggle with figuring out what they can control, what they should control, and where their blindspots are. It’s a fascinating little section, and I’m excited to get recapping. Cadsuane sits with the women maintaining Semirhage’s shield while, in the other room, Sarene interrogates the captive Forsaken. Cadsuane is able to eavesdrop now that she knows the trick of inverting her weaves to make them invisible to others. Cadsuane is one of the few Aes Sedai who hasn’t taken a turn at interrogation yet; she is being careful not to bruise her larger-than-life image. She is also frustrated with the way everything is slowly spinning out of control, how she can’t spare time for the “squabbles” in the White Tower because of the nearness of the Last Battle and the need to make Rand al’Thor ready for it. And he resisted her every attempt to aid him. Step by step he was becoming a man with insides like stone, unmoving and unable to adapt. A statue with no feelings could not face the Dark One. Sarene is getting nowhere, and Cadsuane is considering once again how much the Forsaken reminds her of herself, when a servant arrives with a meal for Semirhage. Cadsuane listens as the food is delivered, only to be flung to the floor, startling everyone. Semirhage announces that she won’t eat the garbage that she has been given, and demands proper food. Sarene asks whether better food will persuade Semirhage to talk.  As she sends the servant to bring something else, Sarene returns to her interrogation. Cadsuane can hear how unsettled the other woman is. Everyone is jumpy around the Forsaken, of course, but Cadsuane suddenly realizes that the awe they all feel around such a legendary, evil monster is the reason they can’t get anywhere with her. She goes into the room, ordering Sarene to release the weaves restraining Semirhage, and calling Semirhage a child before knocking her to the ground by kicking her feet out from under her. Perhaps she could have used the Power, but it felt right to use her hands for this. She prepared a few weaves, though she probably wouldn’t need them. Semirhage, though tall, was a woman of willowy build, and Cadsuane herself had always been more stout than she was slim. Plus, the Forsaken seemed utterly dumbfounded at how she was being treated. Cadsuane puts her knee in Semirhage’s back and orders her to eat the food off the floor, so as not to waste it. Cadsuane ignores the oaths and threats, choosing instead to take Sarene’s chair and drag Semirhage over her knee. She also has Sarene bring in all of the Aes Sedai in the hall, as well as any servants who might be nearby, to watch her spank Semirhage thoroughly. Sermihage’s threats and curses devolve into cries of outrage and pain. When Cadsuane stops and asks if Semirhage is ready to eat the food, Semirhage threatens to find and torture anyone Cadsuane has ever loved. So Cadsuane begins again. Eventually Semirhage starts to cry from the humiliation of her experience. And then, finally, she eats the food off the floor. Cadsuane reminds her witnesses that Semirhage is only human, and that having secrets doesn’t make her special. She also advises Sarene to keep a hairbrush on hand for future punishments. Then she leaves the room, turning her mind back to the problem of Rand al’Thor. Perrin is relieved that the Shaido army hasn’t followed him and his refugees, but administering and caring for such a large group or followers is difficult. Balwer has made it clear that most would not care to leave Perrin’s company, even if the Asha’man were recovered enough to make Gateways big enough, and hold them open long enough, to move a large group of people. Perrin feels guilty for using Grady and Neald too hard, and for all the responsibilities and people he neglected while trying to get Faile back. He knows he has to stop pushing aside his problems, even as he tries to figure out how to get back to Rand, how to be ready to march to the Last Battle. Finishing his inspection of the camp, Perrin reflects on the rumors about him, the different way his is viewed by different factions, and his distaste for the name Goldeneyes. He also thinks about the way he seems to lose control in battle, and of the first time that happened, fighting the Whitecloaks. When Faile was missing, he had continually insisted that nothing else mattered. Now, he feels like he must acknowledge all the things that are still wrong. It is time, he thinks, to stop avoiding his responsibilities, and to stop avoiding the wolf dream. He thinks there might be answers in his dream that he needs. Siuan is carrying her laundry—which she has realized she can outsource to a servant or novice, even though she still has to do Bryne’s laundry—when she notices that all the novices, Accepted, and Aes Sedai are all gathered around the pavilion where the Hall meets. She sets her basket down in a safe place and hurries over, finding Sheriam waiting outside the tent flaps. Sheriam informs Siuan that Elaida has Traveling. The rebels have been using some of their contacts to collect tribute for the White Tower from various sources, and recently that money was collected by Elaida’s representatives first, who were seen departing “through a hole in the air.” Some of the other Aes Sedai standing by Sheriam begin discussing the events, but Siuan wastes no time. She grabs the nearest novice and sends her running to fetch one of the messengers Gareth Bryne stationed in camp. The rest of the novices she sends on their way to lessons and duties, telling them off for gawking. There’s nothing she can do about the Accepted, however, whose privileges include more freedom than novices have. Briefly, Siuan worries that Elaida gained the knowledge of the weaves by breaking Egwene, then realizes it must have been Beonin who betrayed them. She also asks Sheriam why the meeting wasn’t Sealed to the Flame, but the Keeper doesn’t know. Siuan worries aloud over keeping the secret from the Seanchan, at least, and needing every advantage when they attack the White Tower. Sheriam eyed her, skepticism showing. Most of the sisters didn’t believe Egwene’s Dreaming of the attack. Fools—they wanted to catch the fish, but didn’t want to gut it. You didn’t raise a woman to Amyrlin, then treat her warnings lightly. Siuan waits impatiently until the courier arrives, and gives him the message for Bryne to: “…watch his flanks. Our enemy has been taught the method we used to get here.”  Siuan explains to Sheriam that she is making sure they don’t wake up to an army in their midst. The siege is finished now, of course—something Sheriam hasn’t thought of yet, it seems. Siuan is annoyed that Sheriam won’t be the only one; many of the Aes Sedai will be more concerned with professional pride first, and will only think of the practical implications later. Eventually, someone inside the tent does call for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame, and Siuan withdraws, going back to fetch her laundry. As she does, she considers how the problems of politicking and in-fighting are not all Elaida’s doing, that they exist here in the rebel camp and existed in Siuan’s White Tower, as well. She feels partially responsible for this. She knows that every rift in the Tower can probably be traced back to cracks that were there for a long time, and wonders what would have happened if she had been more of a mediator during her time as Amyrlin. If she could have strengthened her Aes Sedai, and prevented them from turning on each other. The Dragon Reborn was important. But he was only one figure in the weaving of these final days. It was too easy to forget that, too easy to watch the dramatic figure of legend and forget everyone else. She is approached by Sharina, who offers to carry Siuan’s laundry. Sharina carefully points out the kerfuffle that the news has caused, and how the news could be used to cause anxiety in the camp. She reveals that the information was first delivered to Lelaine, who let the news slip to a passing family of novices. Lelaine also deflected several early calls for the meeting to be Sealed to the Flame. “I relate only hearsay, of course,” Sharina explained, pausing in the shade of a scraggly blackwood tree. “It is probably just foolishness. Why, an Aes Sedai of Lelaine’s stature would know that if she let information slip in the hearing of novices, it would soon pass to all willing ears.” Siuan grasps the implication at once: Everyone will soon realize what Siuan has already realized, that the siege is useless now. And the more anxious and in peril the women of the camp feel, the easier it will be for a firm hand to seize control. It’s a clever ploy, and Siuan realizes that she should have seen it coming. She asks why Sharina told her this, and Sharina remarks that she isn’t blind; in Siuan she sees a woman working very hard to keep the Amyrlin’s enemies occupied. Sharina also points out that her own fate, and that of all the novices, is tangled up with the Amyrlin’s. She offers to take Siuan’s washing to have it done, and Siuan thanks her. “I am a novice, Siuan Sedai. It is my duty and my pleasure.” The elderly woman bowed in respect and continued on down the path, walking with a step younger than her years. Siuan watches her go, reflecting that it is not only the novices but every one of them whose fates are tangled up with Egwene’s. In her mind, she urges Egwene to hurry up and finish her work in the Tower. Ugh, I love Sharina so very much. I’m really pleased, in a story that is all about young people (and people who look and act young, even when they aren’t) that Jordan included some really great examples of elder characters in the likes of Sharina, and Setalle Anan, and Damer Flinn. It’s fascinating to see the perspective brought to channeling by older folks who have other lives, and other contexts, than the channelers who began their journey working with the One Power when they were quite young. I turned 40 this past week, and it has been on my mind a lot lately the way western society makes us believe that human potential lies exclusively in the young, and that we have one purpose, one role in life, that we are supposed to find in our early twenties, or at least by thirty. In Flinn and in Sharina, he gives us two people who have had full, and fulfilling lives. We are never told that either regrets their path or wishes they had come to channeling in their youth instead of after having lived a long life. Flinn’s passion for healing is clearly influenced by his experience as a soldier, seeing death in many forms and sometimes being responsible for it. Sharina brings a lifetime of wisdom and understanding of people to her position as an initiate of the White Tower, which we see is not an impediment to her ability to be a novice but actually a strength, both for her sake and others. And in Satelle, we see someone who lost channeling, lost the beautiful, life-giving connection to the True Source that few who touch it can survive without, and yet she has had a good life, has experienced pleasure and love and fulfillment, and is in many ways wiser than the Aes Sedai she used to be a sister of. We see her bringing that wisdom, both from her life in the Tower and her life in Ebou Dar, to bear as she worked with Tuon, finding common ground on which to stand so that she can challenge some of Tuon’s beliefs and positions from a place of respect and friendship, rather than antagonism. How many Aes Sedai, even Gray sisters, could manage so well? We even get some really interesting perspectives from Cadsuane, despite the fact that she is more or less establishment Aes Sedai. I was particularly struck by the description early after we met her about how she had always heard that with age comes with patience, but that she found the opposite to be true—that the older she got and the less time she had left, the more impatient she became. I have heard, anecdotally, both from older women I know personally in my life and also from older female influencers that as they age they realize how much they don’t have, or want, to put up with anymore, especially when it comes to societal expectations of women. Robert Jordan was only 59 when he died—old enough to have some experience and perspective about aging, which he clearly brought to bear in his work, but also young enough that I’m impressed with his reflections on the lives and perspective of his elder character, and particularly with his characterization of older women. Jordan has some blindspots and misogyny in his writing that comes up from time to time, but even still, he is deserving of his reputation for writing interesting and complex (and flawed) female characters, and I think he particularly shines when he is writing women like Sharina and Cadsuane. Siuan’s personal revelation about her own failure to repair divisions in the White Tower during her own tenure as Amyrlin is a perfect counterpoint to everything that Egwene has been tackling, both in her own mind and in the mind of the White Tower Aes Sedai. Egwene herself has to reorient from a place of anger and combativeness to a place of compassion and diplomacy as she realizes her task is not to fight Elaida but to repair the division between the Ajahs. To restore, not to tear down. Elaida has to be removed, of course, but Egwene even goes so far as to admit that it would be better if Elaida was a good Amyrlin, if she could be what the White Tower needs. That if she was, Egwene would be content to step aside. Siuan is now having the same realization, and I wonder how much of the Black Ajah’s influence she recognizes in her own failure to mediate and repair division between sisters during her time as Amyrlin. After all, Siuan spent her entire tenure beset by enemies. She and Moiraine watched a previous Amyrlin and all those in her confidence be secretly murdered by the Black Ajah, and knew full well that their own safety rested entirely on the fact that no one knew that they had witnessed Gitara’s Foretelling. She and Moiraine had to carry this heavy burden alone, the only two who knew the secret and the only two who could help the world by finding the Dragon Reborn, but Moiraine got to carry that burden mostly outside of the Tower. Siuan had to do it while interacting with the rest of the Aes Sedai, knowing that any one of them could end up being of the Black. It’s hardly surprising that she failed to catch some of the animosity between the Ajahs or the widening of the divisions in the Tower during her tenure. She was constantly on guard against every single person around her, not only from the general political issues that probably beset most Amyrlins (looking at the animosity between the Blue and the Red, here) but also because she knew about the Black Ajah, and because she knew that revealing her secret to the wrong person, even if she wasn’t Black, could spell disaster for the world in unfathomable ways. It speaks to her character that she is paying attention to these details now. I think it also speaks to the fact that her burdens are different now, and to the fact that she has a few people she can share things with. She still keeps many secrets, and her goals and determination remain unchanged, but she doesn’t have to guard the secret of the Dragon’s rebirth, and she has a few people in her life (Egwene, Bryne, and now Sharina) who she feels she can fully trust. Meanwhile, Perrin is in a very different position. He has Faile back, but he is very much facing the question of who he wants to be now, and how to step up and be the leader everyone needs. He admits to himself that Faile’s kidnapping allowed him to distract himself from important personal issues, like his own discomfiture with leadership, and the difficulty of managing his wolf brother nature. It is continually fascinating to me that Perrin equates his battle rage and murderous impulses with the wolf side of himself, rather than the human side. The wolves of this world are magical, in a way. They are sentient in a way that no other animals have been shown to be, and have a special place in Tel’aran’rhiod, just like the Heroes of the Horn. They are even meant to fight the Shadow and participate in the Last Battle like the Heroes. No doubt the unique mystical nature of wolves in this world is why wolf brothers exist. These are humans connecting to something special about creation, differently, but not wholly unlike, ta’veren connect to the Pattern in unique ways, or someone like Min has visions from it. But the wolves aren’t the same as humans: They don’t think the same way, don’t have the same motivations, and in particular, do not appear to share in most human emotions and motivations. They kill, but not out of hatred; they fear, but don’t seem to experience bigotry or hold grudges. They defend themselves, but they don’t hold onto bitterness when the fight is over. We do see some human-like emotions from them; the most blatant, I think, is their disdain for dogs letting themselves be tamed and be subservient to human beings. Hopper’s frustration with Perrin is somewhat human too, I suppose. Perrin thinks of his battle rage as being a wolf part, something animalistic and terrible that will take him over if he isn’t careful. But his anger and hatred towards the Shaido, driven by his fear of losing Faile or having her hurt, is very, very human. Wolves don’t wage war the way humans do. They don’t keep slaves. If anything, I think Perrin’s relationship to violence is much more human that it is wolf, and he might benefit from letting a wolfish perspective take over a little more, in this respect. Nature is violent, after all. Animals kill each other for food, and sometimes in fights for resources or mating rights or other aspects of survival. But even these magical, sentient wolves don’t hate the way men hate. They don’t swear to the Shadow out of a desire for power, or immortality, or to protect themselves from loss. And they are good at thinking about the needs of the pack, not just the needs of the individual. I’ll be interested to see where this journey goes for Perrin, now that he’s finally decided to face this issue head-on, and whether or not Jordan’s (and Sanderson’s) appraisal of the wolf vs. human dynamic matches my own. It also looks like Perrin is going to try to learn to navigate Tel’aran’rhiod, which will be really interesting. Could be very helpful in being able to communicate with his friends, since Egwene and Rand can also both visit the Dream World. In the past, we have seen Perrin be very impatient when it comes to learning to navigate the Dream, so it’s also likely that there will be some friction between him and Hopper. (Side note: Can someone please message me on Bluesky or leave a comment below for the Reactor team to pass on to me, because I cannot for the life of me figure out where this reference to Perrin trying to kill Hopper in the Dream comes from? Is this something that happened at some point that I just forgot about? I don’t have anything in my notes, and that seems like a huge thing for me not to have written down and commented about. But it also seems like a bizarre thing to have happened “off screen?” Someone help me.) I’m a little surprised we’ve not had a scene between Perrin and Faile now that she is back. They didn’t have time to talk when they were reunited, since they were in the middle of a battle/escape and time was of the essence. But they were separated for months and both have gone through so much, I feel like they would want some kind of sit down and catch up as soon as possible. I’m not sure if we just didn’t see that happen because we the reader already know everything they would want to tell each other, or if things are a little strained between them now that they both have been through so much. That would be reasonable, I suppose. I don’t doubt that they will be fine in the end, but since they have both changed, they might need to refind the balance between them again. And of course, Perrin is very aware of the nearness of the Last Battle, and can feel Rand’s need for him pulling him on. If only that pull was like a compass, actually giving him a direction to go in. I did have a little giggle at Perrin worrying that the Queen of Andor probably wouldn’t welcome him. He has no idea of what is going on with Andor, or how Rand is Warder to the new Queen, who is also having his child. And then there’s Cadsuane and Semirhage. Semirhage is a pretty boring character—she’s just really evil and gross—but she does serve a really great narrative purpose here. Not only does she help Cadsuane understand that, as powerful as they are, the Forsaken are human beings, fallible and prone to the same types of weakness as any other human being, she also serves as a narrative foil to the strength of people like Egwene and even Perrin and Rand himself. Semirhage is powerful, strong, and possessed of so much knowledge that was uncommon even in her time, nevermind in this one. She is one of the Chosen, which means she believes that she will one day rule over a large swath of the world, and even has ambitions towards being Nae’blis. (Let’s be honest, every single Forsaken except for Asmodean believe or at least believed at one time that they could and would come out on top, whether that was a realistic belief of not.) She has everything going for her, and yet, it took only a few moments of indignity to have her eating off the floor like a dog. Egwene, on the other hand, is young, was raised in a small village and had limited ambition. But when she is faced with indignity, imprisonment, torture, and humiliation, she continually finds new sources of strength and ways not only to endure, but to grow and thrive. Yes, she was fortunate to have the Aiel teachings to bring to bear during her time as Elaida’s prisoner, but it still took great inner strength to learn those lessons and to apply them successfully, and I don’t know how many people in her position could have done as well. And perhaps it is because she comes from so little, because she possesses confidence and self-reliance but also humility, that she is able to find strength. Semirhage’s strength is based, apparently, entirely on the image others have of her. Cadsuane reflected in earlier chapters that the way to break Semirhage would be the way she would break herself, but I don’t doubt for a moment that Cadsuane would have lasted a lot longer than Semirhage did. Cadsuane’s image is very important to her (I am fascinated by the revelation that she partially hunted men who can channel to increase her reputation among the other Aes Sedai) and losing that might indeed break her in the end, but I think Cadsuane would also be aware of the power of enduring punishment and humiliation and presenting an unwavering countenance. Just as Elaida looked overwhelmed and foolish while beating Egwene, it would be possible for someone with an iron will to make their jailors look like the ones struggling, even as they themselves were beaten. I don’t think it’s something a prisoner could keep up indefinitely, of course. It just feels very significant to me that Semirhage folded immediately. That the moment any of these people, who she sees as nothing more than uncivilized bumpkins and technologically-backwards children, suggest that they might not be awestruck and terrified of her, she can’t hold onto the image. It makes me wonder if some, or most, of her terrible words were a front, and if she wasn’t pretty scared the whole time. After all, the Dark One doesn’t take very kindly to his servants getting captured, especially if he believes they have given up information. Semirhage has seen what happened to Moghedien, after all. Even if her current captors couldn’t do more than hold her captive, that might be enough to seal her to a very unpleasant fate. And now that Cadsuane has solved the Semirhage problem, she can turn her full attention back to the Rand al’Thor problem. This, too, comes into the themes of control. Every Aes Sedai who has encountered Rand has attempted to exert some kind of control over him. Some have done it more gently, like Moiraine. And I would argue Cadsuane herself falls in this category. Others have done it more forcibly, or at least wished to, and that has resulted in increasing Rand’s general paranoia and specific distrust of Aes Sedai. Egwene points out to Ferane and the other Whites that the best way to handle Rand would have been with the utmost subtlety, making sure to show him how accepting advice and guidance would be helpful and safe, without ever forcing him and putting him on the defensive. It’s far too late for that strategy to work now, of course, given how far gone Rand is and how many reasons (some very justified, others less so) to be distrustful of Aes Sedai. But Cadsuane does need to find an approach that is spiritually on par with Egwene’s point. She needs Rand to believe that she wants to help him, and that she can help him. Cadsuane doesn’t know that the small bit of ground she has gained with Rand has nothing to do with her own actions. He has given in to her demands for a certain outward respect and certain accommodations because of Min’s vision. That is what he trusts. Min’s vision told him that Cadsuane would teach him something he needs to know, and so he has forced himself to acquiesce to her. He knows he needs that lesson.  But that doesn’t mean he trusts her, and it certainly doesn’t mean he thinks she has his best interests at heart. He almost certainly believes that the thing she is going to teach him is something about managing people or war or winning the Last Battle, not something about himself, about his own need to be a human being with feelings, both for his own sake and for the world’s. I don’t think it would ever occur to him to question his belief that he must be hard and cold in order to be successful in his goals, or to think that any Aes Sedai wouldn’t generally agree with that belief. Cadsuane knows that Rand is getting worse, that she has made very little progress with him at all, and none in the area she most needs to. The question is how she will approach the problem, and whether she will recognize the need to think outside the box as quickly and relatively easily as she did with Semirhage.  I’m also curious about what’s going on with Sheriam, now that she’s not getting tortured by Halima’gar anymore. Siuan notes that she seems less distraught and more put together again, but I wonder how much of her earlier influence she has been able to regain, after being under Halima’gar’s thumb for so long. There are surely other Blacks in the camp, but I don’t know if any of them are known to Sheriam or under her orders—probably not. And with Egwene gone, she has limited ways to ply her influence among those in charge in Salidar. I’m not surprised Sheriam doesn’t believe in Egwene’s ability as a Dreamer, but she also might not care if the Seanchan attacked the White Tower, as long as she herself was safe. It’s possible even a Black would object in principle to a sister being collared, but the Dark One does want the White Tower destroyed, and if the Seanchan were very successful in their attack, the Aes Sedai might not be able to recover. I can’t deny that I am getting anxious about that attack. Feels like it might come very soon, although with Rand trying to meet the Daughter of the Nine Moons, the Seanchan might be distracted, dealing with that before anything else. We may find out more about in the next post, which will come in the new year, because we’re going to have a Tuon chapter! There will also be some new Mat content, which is always something to look forward to. I hope everyone has a lovely winter break, and I am sending my very best wishes for a wonderful holiday(s) to anyone who is celebrating. As always, it is a joy and a privilege to get to write Reading The Wheel of Time, and I am very grateful to each and every one of you. I’ll see you all in January for chapters 19 and 20 of The Gathering Storm![end-mark] The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Cadsuane, Perrin, and Siuan Wrestle with Control in <i>The Gathering Storm</i> (Part 12) appeared first on Reactor.