Books The Wheel of Time Reading The Wheel of Time: Backward Leads Only to the Past in Towers of Midnight (Part 2) By Sylas K Barrett | Published on July 14, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share Galad leads seven thousand Children of the Light through a deep and large swamp, taking a path deliberately chosen because it seems the least likely place for Asunawa to be looking for them. The men are struggling in the heat and the mud and the insects, and Dain Bornhald suggests that they turn back. Galad tells him that backwards only leads to the past, and that they must go forward, as the Last Battle is almost upon them.  Remembering the lessons about leadership that Morgase taught him, he calls a halt to the march and gives a speech to his men to encourage them, reminding them that they are the Light, and that light shines brightest when it is dark. “Where is the victory of this swamp? I refuse to feel its bite, for I am proud. Proud to live in these days, proud to be part of what is to come. All the lives that came before us in this Age looked forward to our day, the day when men will be tested. Let others bemoan their fate. Let others cry and wail. We will not, for we will face this test with heads held high. And we will let it prove us strong!” They continue their march, strengthened by Galad’s speech. After fording a river full of  bodies from some bandit attack or raid and marching for a while longer, a scout named Bartlett returns to report that the swamp ends in about a mile, and that the way north is clear. But when Galad and the first of his men emerge from the trees into the field beyond, a great force appears—Asunawa and the Questioners, plus other forces Galad guesses must be Amadicians, loaned to Asunawa by the Seanchan. He realizes that his scouts betrayed him, suggesting the route through the swamp in order to exhaust Galad’s men and give Asunawa time to get his forces assembled. Their numbers are much greater as well, and Galad knows that he has no chance of victory here. Accompanied by Byar and Bornhald, Galad rides out to parley with Asunawa, who is accompanied by a guard of Questioners as well as several Lord Captains. Asunawa accuses Galad and his men of being Darkfriends, although when Galad calls him out he changes his accusation, naming only Galad as such, his followers led astray by him. Asunawa demands Galad surrender, and accuses him of using the powers of the Dark to defeat Valda unfairly. But Galad has an answer for each accusation, turning to the Lord Captains and invoking various rules and tenets of the Children of the Light to point out the ridiculousness, and unlawfulness, of Asunawa’s claims. Still, Asunawa persists, refusing to accept Galad’s arguments or to make any truce with a Darkfriend. Galad offers to surrender, on the condition that none of his men are imprisoned or put to the question.  “You cannot hinder the Hand of the Light in such a way! This would give them free rein to seek the Shadow!”“And is it only fear of Questioning that keeps us in the Light, Asunawa?” Galad asked. “Are not the Children valiant and true?” Asunawa is still dissatisfied, and Bornhald tries to talk Galad out of his decision, but Galad stands firm, and eventually Asunawa orders Galad be taken prisoner… and that none of his men are to be put to the question. Galad sends Bornhald and Byar back to give orders to his men and then is roughly dragged from his saddle and thrown to the ground. As his armor is removed and his clothing cut free, he declares that he is not a Darkfriend and will never speak that lie. He is then beaten and kicked into unconsciousness. The creature who was once known as Padan Fain walks along a hill, reveling in his hatred, the only emotion he has left. He likes to carry the dagger unsheathed so that it cuts his hands and leaves drops of blood on the ground as he walks. He has accepted his madness, and feels liberated. He has killed a Worm, which has attracted some attention from nearby Shadowspawn. He runs into a group of Trollocs led by a Myrddraal. The Trollocs attack, but the more intelligent Myrddraal turns to flee. The mist struck.It rolled over the Trollocs, moving quickly, like the tentacles of a leviathan in the Aryth Ocean. Lengths of it snapped forward through Trolloc chests. One long rope whipped above their heads, then shot forward in a blur, taking the Fade in the neck. The Trollocs fall to the ground in screaming spasms, their skin breaking out in blisters and cysts. They rise again, corrupted zombies under his control. The madman continues on, followed by his Trollocs, on his way to kill Rand al’Thor. He thinks he’ll kill the Dark One next. In Kandor, Malenarin Rai, commander of Heeth Tower, is working and pondering his duties for the day and his son Keemlin’s upcoming nameday. To have a duty was to have pride—just as to bear a burden was to gain strength. Watching the Blight was his duty and his strength, and it was particularly important these days, with the strange storm to the north, and with the Queen and much of the Kandori army having marched to seek the Dragon Reborn. Jargen, a sergeant of the watch, reports to Malenarin that they have received a flash—the watchtowers communicate using light reflected by mirrors—from Rena Tower. There has been no following message to report that the flash was a mistake, and no response to messages from Heeth Tower. After waiting some time for a reply either by mirror or messenger, Malenarin decides to send a message on to the next tower reporting what has happened and warning of a possible attack. In addition to message by mirror, the information will also be carried by boys on horseback. Three of them, just in case. Keemlin is one of those who will be sent, as his name is next on the roster. It isn’t long before Malenarin, watching the dark storm that has been perpetually on the horizon, decides that the darkness is advancing. He orders the Tower to be readied for a siege. He is surprised when Keemlin appears, reporting that he asked that another boy be sent in his place. He explains that the other, Tian, is five or ten pounds lighter than Keemlin, which will make a big difference on a hard ride. Under his father’s disapproving stare, he adds that Tian’s mother has already lost four sons to the Blight, and that Tian is her last. Keemlin’s nameday is still a few days away, but Malenarin tells his son that the sword is presented the day a boy becomes a man—therefore, this presentation is late, not early, as Malenarin sees a man standing before him. The ceremony is short, with Keemlin swearing to fight in defense of his honor, his family, and his homeland for as long as he has breath, and to never stop fighting, or watching. The men cheer as Keemlin is declared a man. Moments later the Tower is attacked by Draghkar that come pouring out of the cloudy sky. On the ground, a massive force of Trollocs begins to batter at the walls. Malenarin knows that the Trollocs will keep coming until the Tower is overwhelmed and every man killed. He also knows that every moment they resist buys time for the messages to reach the next tower, and for the defenders to prepare. Malenarin was a man of the Borderlands, same as his father, same as his son beside him. They knew their task. You held until you were relieved. That’s all there was to it. Ugh, just when I thought Mordeth/Fain couldn’t get any grosser. I’m curious what part he has left to play in this story, though. By the rule of threes there should be one more big thing. The first was of course the fact that he nearly killed Rand. The second was Shadar Logoth and the power of Mashadar made possible the cleansing of saidin. What will the third be, and will it have something to do with fighting Rand himself, or fighting the Dark, or some combination of both? The beginnings of Fain, back in the early books that homage Lord of the Rings so lovingly, were very Gollum like, which also makes me feel like Mordeth/Fain should be there at a climactic moment of the Last Battle, even if it’s not the climactic moment. That he has, as Gandalf says of Gollum, “some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end[…].” I don’t really enjoy reading about him much, though I am interested in his new delusion that he can kill the Dark One. I don’t believe it is possible to do that—the Dark One seems to be integral to the function of Creation and the lives of humanity—but that doesn’t mean Mordeth/Fain couldn’t do the Dark One some serious damage. And it’s interesting, really, because Mordeth, the original guy who came to Aridhol, began as someone who genuinely wanted to fight the Shadow. He and the people who followed his ways became corrupted—I believe there was something about using the methods of the Shadow to fight the Shadow—but Mashadar was never of the Shadow. It is a different kind of Evil, one that will destroy anyone it touches, but prefers to hunt Shadowspawn above all. And I can’t help thinking, given how important Mashadar already has been to Rand’s success, that in some ways, from a certain point of view, what Mordeth and King Balwen did was… good? Not moral, of course, but perhaps necessary, in a cosmic sense, to the successful progression of the Age and the ultimate victory of Rand al’Thor at the Last Battle. In some twisted, messed up way, Mordeth the man has done exactly what he set out to do. Also, what the heck is a Worm? Are we going for a Dune homage now? Jordan pulled a lot of inspiration from Dune, especially with the Aes Sedai, so I can certainly see him inventing a sandworm-eque creature to include in his world building. I can also see Sanderson inventing such a creature following the same reasoning. Speaking of new creatures, I had to go look up what a Draghkar was; I felt like the name was familiar but I can not remember for the life of me if/where we’ve encountered them before. I always try not to do research online for fear of spoilers, but curiosity got the better of me and I did read the whole fandom.com article on Draghkar, and did a little skimming through the articles about Trollocs and Myrddraal. I found it interesting that while Trollocs were created by splicing human and animal genetics (with Myrddraal resulting when the balance of presentation tipped a little closer to human than animal) but the first Draghkar were (according to the fandom.com article, which did not site a source for this particular piece of information) created by corrupting humans. Still, they seem very similar to Myrddraal, even to the point of having hypnotic powers. Myrddraal get the toughness and the weird faces, Draghkar are skinny and more fragile, but they get giant bat wings. Both basically just feel like animalistic vampires to me. I don’t have a whole lot to say about Malenarin Rai’s section. It’s well-written and atmospheric, but plot-wise it doesn’t do much besides let the reader know that the Shadow is on the move. And it reminds us of how Borderlanders think, which is useful in understanding Lan’s whole deal, and the mindset of those who follow him. It’s easy to be annoyed by Lan’s deathwish tendencies, especially since they rubbed off on Rand, but the context of the culture he was born into and the one he was raised around matters a lot when it comes to how he thinks and how he carries himself. Borderlanders consider the reason for their existence, the meaning of their lives, is to give them to the fight against the Shadow. When Malenarin gave Keemlin his sword and named him a man, I thought about the Malkier tradition of granting the hadori/ki’sain. Just as Keemlin repeats an oath to stand against the Shadow until his death, the hadori and ki’sain come with a similar oath, a similar commitment to fight until one’s death. Or in the case of women, to dedicate her sons to that fight. My complaints about gendered bullshit aside, I do think there is something dark about making that pledge on behalf of someone who hasn’t even been born yet. It speaks to the strength of the culture and to the fact that the Borderland countries only survive because their culture is so strict about duty and standing against the Shadow/Blight. But it also speaks to the depressing inevitability of being born into a world at war. This is what the Dark One is really about, I think. His personal goal (as far as anyone knows, anyway) is to destroy creation, or maybe remake it in his own image. But his role in the lives of humanity is to bring war and strife and suffering, to create a world in which even before they are born, babies are dedicated to fighting a war that has been going on for generations and generations. Rand isn’t the only one who inherited an identity and a duty that brings him pain, suffering, and death. Everyone in this world did—the Borderlands most of all. I’ve left Galad and his section for last because it is the most interesting and the most complicated. I have to admit, I’m obsessed with Galad’s characterization, and have been since we met him back in The Eye of the World. I have a soft spot for lawful characters, people whose rigid sense of right and wrong makes them heroes (in the story-telling sense) who always stand by their principles—and then, inevitably, are challenged by a world that is not nearly as black and white as they believe.  I’ve used the DnD categorization to talk about this kind of character before, when exploring the characterization of Galad. Where Elayne says he “always does the right thing, with no regard for who it hurts,” I say lawful Good. But the thing about being lawful Good is that you can only continue to be both as long as the laws you follow are good. This is possible in a game setting, but not in real life, because laws are made by people, and all people are flawed. No matter what law you choose, what leader you follow, you are inevitably going to come up against a law, an order, a choice, that does not match your morals. And then you must decide. Will you choose law for law’s sake? Or will you choose good, even if it breaks the rules? We saw Galad tackle this problem when he helps Nynaeve and Elayne escape Samara, choosing to honor his duty to Elayne as more important than any other obligations he might have. His actions led to riots, which I suppose fits the narrative of doing the right thing “no matter who it hurts,” but it proves that he is capable of thinking for himself, of following his own moral compass above the rules and laws of any organization he may owe allegiance to. As far as being a member of the Children of the Light goes, Galad is reconciling the difference between lawful and good by attaching himself to the spirit of the Whitecloaks’ rules, focusing on the noble goals and lofty ideals of serving the Light and protecting the world from the Shadow. He doesn’t allow personal ambition or animosity to taint his execution of those ideals, and he is determined to hold the men around him to the proper standard. Galad is also fortunate to have the skills and brains to back up his position. The whole point of a Trial Beneath the Light is that the Children believe that the Light will only allow those righteous under the Light to prevail; the Light would never allow a liar or a criminal to be victorious. If you don’t believe that, however, then the Trial Beneath the Light doesn’t prove innocence or guilt, only who is the better swordsman. Or who was having a better day. Or who just got lucky. Valda may or may not have truly believed that he was a good man in the eyes of the Light, but he clearly believed that he was going to best Galad through greater martial powers, not because the Light would guide him to victory. I don’t think Galad, whose position was moral and whose accusations were true, really believed that he was guaranteed to win because the Light deemed it so. He did, however, understand the law of the Children, and his moral duty demanded that he make every attempt to avenge his mother. He used his understanding of the law and faith of the Children of the Light to his best advantage, and because he is also an incredible swordsman, he was able to succeed. So great is the hold that lawfulness and faith have on the Children that even Asunawa (who knew of Valda’s guilt) couldn’t stop Galad from getting to issue his challenge. Valda accepted it because he was cocky, but I think also because he knew that he needed to appear upstanding in the law in the eyes of his men. Galad also uses his understanding of the laws and faith of the Children during the parley with Asunawa. He knows that Asunawa is not a good person, and that the man is more interested in his own gains than following either law or morality, so he appeals his arguments to the Lord Captains who are with Asunawa. If these men are good and true, they must at least consider what Galad is saying as he invokes the faith by which the Children of the Light are supposed to conduct themselves. Galad would make an amazing lawyer, if that conversation is anything to go by. He argues that he and his men cannot surrender, because Children of the Light take an oath never to do so, presenting his defiance of Asunawa as an adherence to his oath. He also reminds everyone present that he bested Valda in a Trial Beneath the Light. It is quite possible for good men to fall at the hands of Darkfriends, but a Trial Beneath the Light is very different than falling in battle or at the hands of an ordinary attacker. Asunawa is, of course, uninterested in any of Galad’s points, but just as Galad used his right as one of the Children to issue the challenge in the first place, despite Asunawa’s protests and denials, he is able to use his legalistic arguments to gain enough advantage with the other Lord Captains to force Asunawa to acquiesce to a compromise. It’s skillfully done. And selflessly, too. The man always does what is right, regardless of who it hurts. And that includes himself. In the swamp he tells Trom that he had no choice but to lead the Children after killing their Lord Captain Commander. To do otherwise would have been wrong, and so Galad put aside his own desires and did what was right. Now we see him do the same again: He does what is right, even though the person who got hurt this time was Galad himself. I’m desperately curious to see what happens with Galad’s story in relation to the existence and identity of the Children of the Light going forward. He’s planted some seeds in the minds of the Lord Captains who are still loyal to Asunawa, and Asunawa does not really conduct himself the way a member of the order should. He gets away with it because he’s a high-ranking Questioner, but now everyone is going to be comparing his behavior to Galad’s, and I think Asunawa is going to come up wanting. I also fully believe that no amount of torture can make Galad say he’s a Darkfriend, or recant anything he said about Valda. Given all that, I can see a world in which enough Children of the Light turn against Asunawa to either break the group in half—the Questioners as one organization and the rest of the Children as another—or even to have Asunawa officially deposed in some way. As all of you well know, I’m pretty much against the Children of the Light, and would be happy to see the whole group disbanded permanently, but Galad is right that they are needed for the Last Battle, and he is the perfect person to lead them. Finally, Rand will have a leader who is willing to ally with him, and the Aes Sedai, and the Seanchan, and anyone else, despite any personal animosity, for the good of the world and victory at Tarmon Gai’don. Galad may not know how he feels about the Dragon Reborn, may wonder if he is an Aes Sedai puppet, but he won’t let those suspicions and concerns stop him from keeping his eyes on the prize: stopping the destruction of everything. That will be a relief for Rand, personally as well as professionally. After all, he is going to marry Galad’s sister, and the other brother might still be thinking about murdering Rand if they are ever in the same room together. Next week we will be covering chapter one, in which Rand reveals some interesting new abilities, and chapter two, in which Perrin keeps working on becoming the leader he needs to be. Until then, I’m going to be thinking about doing the right thing, and how, exactly, one decides what that is. See you next week![end-mark] The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Backward Leads Only to the Past in <i>Towers of Midnight</i> (Part 2) appeared first on Reactor.