Excerpts The Wheel of Time Reading The Wheel of Time: Perrin Dreams, Graendal Plans, and Gawyn Isn’t Ready in Towers of Midnight (Part 5) Moridin makes an appearance in this section of Towers of Midnight… By Sylas K Barrett | Published on August 4, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share Welcome back to Reading The Wheel of Time! This week is an exciting one: The Blight is showing up in new places, Galad runs into Perrin’s forces, Gawyn and Egwene deal with murder in the Tower, and Graendal gets a chance for glory. It’s chapters four and five of Towers of Midnight. Let’s go! The Maidens bring Perrin, along with some of the Wise Ones, Aes Sedai, Faile, Berelain, and a group of Two Rivers men, to see a meadow by the road that has been completely taken over by the Blight. The plants are spotted with decay; the smell of rotting bodies is overwhelming. At the center they find a strange, empty village. Masuri tells them that the village is not native to the area. Perrin orders all the channelers to burn the village and the entire area of Blight, promising to stay an extra day in camp if necessary. No one argues. In the Wolf Dream, Perrin is called by a pack of wolves, urging him to hunt with them. He finds Hopper there, watching him, and the two engage in their usual debate. When Hopper reminds him that the Last Hunt comes and that he should come learn, Perrin realizes that this is an opportunity for the teaching he has been asking Hopper for. He agrees to come, but is determined not to lose himself. Hopper replies that he cannot lose Young Bull, since Young Bull is him. He accuses Perrin of repeating the same empty words over and over. Perrin begins to run with Hopper but then stumbles into a clearing and discovers lumps of metal in the grass, like the ones he was working on in his dream. A hole appears to open in the sky, and Perrin sees visions of Mat fighting versions of himself, unaware of a shadowy figure creeping up behind him. The next vision is of wolves chasing sheep into the woods where a terrible beast awaits. Perrin feels that he is among the wolves, but also that some of the wolves are wrong. A third darkness, to the side. Faile, Grady, Elyas, Gaul… all walked toward a cliff, followed by thousands of others. Hopper encourages him again to run, and finally Perrin begins to move through the Dream the way he has before, shifting from one location to the next in great leaps. He joins the pack and they run together, and eventually Perrin gives in and runs on all fours as a wolf.  Young Bull discovers a stag and chases it down until he catches its neck in his teeth and wrestles it to the ground. He prepares for the kill, but suddenly Hopper stops him. The stag escapes, and Young Bull tries to follow, but again Hopper knocks him back, telling him that the hunt is over. If the stag dies here, it dies forever. Perrin comes back to himself, a human again, with the pack all around him. He asks if every lesson in the Wolf Dream will be like this. Hopper answers that it will. Perrin realizes that he has been avoiding this problem for too long. He cannot know how to deal with the wolf, or banish it, until he understands it. In the Whitecloak camp, Galad debates with the Lord Captains about his plan to ally with the Aes Sedai. Lord Harnesh insists that the “witches” are evil. Galad responds that this may be, but the Last Battle is coming; even if the Aes Sedai are evil, their evil is insignificant compared to the Dark One. The Children are less than twenty thousand strong, and the nations of the world revile the Children of the Light.  He talks about lessons he learned from Morgase, and how they must have the respect of the nations’ rulers, not their frustration or hatred. The Children could achieve much more success if they had support and welcome in the various nations. Just then Byar, who Galad sent to watch the road, returns to report that they have captured a group of travelers, possibly merchants. When Galad inspects the captured “merchants,” the leader gives his name as Basil Gil, from Andor. He claims to have purchased all the supplies and equipment to try to sell to the armies he has heard are gathering in the area.  Galad is impressed with Gil’s subterfuge, but given the lack of merchant’s guards and the number of cooks, washerwomen, and farriers with him, he suspects that this actually a group of camp followers for an army. It isn’t long before the truth comes out. One of the people in Gil’s group admits that there is a large army nearby, one that has skirmished with Aiel. They also admit the name of the army’s leader. Byar spat to the side. “Have you ever heard of a man called Perrin Goldeneyes?”“No. Should I have?”“Yes,” Bornhald said. “He killed my father.” In the White Tower, Gawyn and Sleete go to investigate the murder of an Aes Sedai—the fourth that has occurred in the White Tower since reunification. Egwene has blamed Black Ajah coming in via Gateways and urges that no Aes Sedai be alone, but Gawyn isn’t sure he believes that this is Black Ajah. After he and Sleete find evidence that the door to the murdered sister’s room has been forced and Gawyn finds no sign of damage from a Gateway, he finds himself struggling not to snap at Chubain, who seems to have a strong dislike for Gawyn. Gawyn hasn’t been able to figure out why, but he tries not to lose his temper, instead attempting to approach the problem the way his mother would. He realizes that from Chubain’s perspective, it looks like Gawyn is trying to take his job as High Captain of the Tower Guard. He takes Chubain aside and diplomatically thanks him for allowing Gawyn to inspect the room. He explains that he is trying to win Egwene’s favor so that she will make him her Warder. Chubain is surprised, but he softens towards Gawyn immediately and the two discuss the murders. Sleete finds a thread of black silk, and all three agree that this does not really seem like the work of the Black Ajah. Gawyn goes to the Amyrlin’s study and convinces Egwene to speak with him. He asks her why she always shows him the Amyrlin, and never lets him see Egwene. She replies that he still doesn’t respect her position or view her as a true Aes Sedai. Gawyn controls himself with an effort and moves on to the subject of the assassinations. He points out that none of the women who were murdered had Warders, and suggests that, as the Last Battle is approaching, all of the Aes Sedai should be required to have a Warder. Egwene tells him that he doesn’t understand what he is asking, and that the bond between Warder and Aes Sedai is intensely personal and intimate—not something that should be forced on people. “Warders keep sisters alive, and every Aes Sedai is going to be of vital importance soon. There will be legions upon legions of Trollocs. Every sister on the field will be more valuable than a hundred soldiers, and every sister Healing will be able to save dozens of lives. The Aes Sedai are assets that belong to humanity. You cannot afford to let them go about unprotected.” Egwene, admitting that he is making some very good points, agrees to consider proposing something to the Hall. Gawyn insists that an Aes Sedai choosing not to bond a Warder is selfish, both because of the value of an Aes Sedai and also because bonding makes a man a better soldier. He also asks Egwene if anyone has considered that the murderers might not be Black Ajah, but the work of a Gray Man or some other Darkfriend. Egwene admits that she knows through her Dreaming that Mesaana is in the White Tower. She has shared this with the Aes Sedai who are investigating the murders, but does not want to tell the rest of the Tower, for fear of rekindling the distrust and division between the Ajahs. Egwene asks Gawyn to stop standing guard at her door at night. He protests, but she points out that there is little he could do to stop one of the Forsaken. She also admits that she has laid very careful wards, and hopes that if Mesaana does come to attack Egwene, Egwene may be able to surprise her. She asks Gawyn to prove that he trusts her. He forces himself to nod, bow, and leave. Once he has gone, Egwene sits back, thinking about how emotional Gawyn makes her feel. One of the reasons she doesn’t want him standing guard outside her door is that his presence threatens to overwhelm her resolve, and she might give in to her desire to be in his arms.  On a deserted island in the Aryth Ocean, Graendal is hiding out in a cave with a few servants and supplies and furnishings that she has kept there in case of emergency. She hates it, but knows that this is the last place anyone would think to look for her. She isn’t surprised when she is summoned before Moridin, and arrives prepared with a lie to escape punishment. She claims to have purposefully lured “Lews Therin” to her hideout to goad him into murdering all those innocents, knowing that it would cause him anguish, even possibly destroy him, to realize what he had done to so many innocent people. She claims that Aran’gar failed to flee when Graendal told her to, and points out that a great risk sometimes comes with some loss. Moridin appears to be listening to something Graendal can’t hear. After a moment he declares that she is not going to be punished but neither is she going to be rewarded. Graendal needs a victory, so she offers up one of her plans: her intention to kill Perrin Aybara. She tells Moridin that she has already laid a trap for him. Moridin seems intrigued, but he points out that Perrin has access to gateways and will escape her. He brings her to another room, one that is full of artifacts from the Age of Legends, and gives her a dreamspike to use against Perrin. Graendal is excited, but Moridin warns that he has the key to this dreamspike, and that it is a loan only. He also will loan her “the man with two souls,” but she must remember that both items belong to him. He also shows her a Dark prophecy that says that Perrin will die at the hands of the Shadow. Then he makes a gateway using the True Power and sends her back to her cave with the promise of rich rewards for success, and great punishment for failure. If there is one theme that stands out in these two chapters, it is the theme of identity. From Galad’s interrogations of the Children of the Light’s approach to interacting with the rulers of the nations, to Perrin’s ongoing struggle against the wolf side of himself, to Gawyn’s quest to become Egwene’s Warder, to the careful way Graendal constructs her own outward identity in order to protect and advance herself, everyone is dealing either with a threat to the notion of how they think of themselves (or how others think of them) or trying to define themselves in a new way. For some, it’s both. And then there’s whatever is going on with Moridin. He seems to have leveled up roughly at the same time/in the same way as Rand has. Graendal feels some kind of physical, or perhaps metaphysical effect in his presence, which causes her to sweat and also to feel cold. He also appears to be in direct communication with the Dark One. Graendal witnesses him appear to receive some kind of order, and although she has never heard of anyone being able to hear the Dark One outside of Shayol Ghul, she does believe this is what is happening. Ishamael/Moridin’s particular connection to the Dark One, and his constant use of the “True Power,” has been shown to transform his body in a supernatural way. It would make sense that there might be other, less visible effects, and as the Pattern weakens, it seems plausible that someone who is so heavily connected to the power that comes from the Dark One might be able to be in direct communication with him. Narratively, this keeps Rand and Moridin on a level field when it comes to their powers and roles in respect to their opposite sides. Rand now has an ability to heal the Pattern around him, while Moridin’s use of the True Power tears and injures it. Rand seems to have gained a little touch of omnipotence about certain things, given his ability to know that his presence keeps the Dark One’s touch at bay and that the fruit he caused to grow will remain safe from his touch even after Rand leaves. The things he understands and the way he speaks, like a holy person, suggests an increased connection to the Light. Not that I think he is in communication with the Creator, but there is a little something in him that makes him seem like more than just a human with greater than ordinary ta’veren and channeling powers. Moridin is speaking directly with the Dark One, or at least is spoken to, and has an air of something more than an ordinary Darkfriend, or even another member of the Chosen. There is also an air of melancholy around Moridin that I don’t quite understand. Despite his power and the hint of madness about him, he is very reserved and very simple in his presentation. We constantly see him inhabiting this empty dark space with little to no furniture and the big hearth with its fire, his clothing is simple, and he never seems to show much emotion, even when threatening the other Forsaken. You would think the Nae’blis might gloat a little bit or show off his status to the other Chosen, but Moridin does not. He brings it up when he needs to insure compliance or threaten the others with punishment, but other than when he’s giving orders and making promises, he doesn’t seem to be doing much. Granted, just because we haven’t seen what he’s up to when no one else is around doesn’t mean he’s just sitting and staring into the fire, but that is what he was doing in the dream Rand accidentally visited. Unless Moridin is up to a lot of things that we aren’t seeing, he seems mostly to be stuck in an administrative role, doling out assignments and punishments to the other Chosen. This makes sense for the position of Nae’blis but it also makes his life incredibly boring, I should think. Now, as Rand is starting to come into his full power and to make big moves on the board, I’m wondering what that means for the Nae’blis, who is in many ways a counterpart to the Light’s champion. Graendal even feels at one moment that Moridin’s voice sounds a little bit like the Dark One’s. I was actually kind of impressed by Graendal’s manipulation of her situation. She suggests that Rand only found her hiding place because she laid a trap for him and that the only unplanned part of the encounter was Aran’gar’s death, which she claims was an accident that occurred because Aran’gar didn’t listen to Graendal’s sensible advice. It fits the events very well, and the lie she crafted is so convincing that Moridin is visibly startled by its revelation. And I don’t think it’s easy to startle Moridin. The way Graendal uses her (accurate) reputation as someone who loves fine things and could never stand to be somewhere isolated and dank, like the cave on the empty island, also speaks to this week’s theme of identity. Graendal has always been one of the more boring members of the Forsaken for me, but I did find her rather interesting this week. That being said, for all her impressive recovery from her near death experience and secret murder of Aran’gar, it’s clear that Graendal is on very thin ice. If she fails to kill Perrin, I think her punishment is going to be very intense indeed. The revelation of the secret Dark prophecies is interesting, too. As Moridin points out, any prophecy can be interpreted in a variety of ways, making it very difficult to accurately read what they predict. We aren’t shown the prophecy that Moridin (and Graendal) are so certain of, but I myself am skeptical that Perrin’s death is inevitable as they believe. No idea what a dreamspike is, but Graendal says that it has many different uses, so there are probably some things that it does beyond the obvious suggestion that you can use it to come in and harm someone who is navigating Tel’aran’rhiod. The term spike suggests a weapon-like function, but right before Moridin give Graendal the dreamspike he specifically mentions that Perrin will be able to escape Graendal using gateways without it. It’s possible that the dreamspike is a more powerful version of that one ter’angreal that traps people in Tel’aran’rhiod, like that one time it happened to Faile back in… whatever book that was. Maybe Graendal will pull Perrin’s entire party into the Dream somehow. Or maybe, in addition to having Tel’aran’rhiod powers, the dreamspike also does things in the waking world like, oh I don’t know, prevent the creation of gateways somehow. The man with two souls is probably Slayer, who I almost forgot about. There’s so many players and so much happening, it is getting increasingly hard to keep track. But we know that being has some kind of weird dual-identity thing going on and that he can move in the World of Dreams and hunt wolves, so it makes sense that Moridin would bring him on board for this particular task. But to get back to chapter four for a moment, I must say that everything that happens in that chapter makes me tremendously happy. The logistical and philosophical questions Galad asks about what it means to be the Children of the Light are long overdue. I also really appreciated Galad’s approach to understanding what the Children are, and what they could be, and how he addresses both the ideal of the Children of the Light as well as the practical realities of the job they are trying to do and what is necessary to do it. I did find it interesting that Galad’s perspective on the Aes Sedai is tainted enough that he considers that they might be evil after all. This is based on what happened to Elayne and how both Galad and Gawyn believed that their sister was being used by the White Tower in immoral ways. I’m not surprised that he disdains and distrusts the Aes Sedai now—after all, that is what led him to the Whitecloaks in the first place—but the world “evil” carries a heavy connotation, even with the lowercase e. I think this shows that there is a level of emotion in Galad around what happened when he was in the White Tower that is not just based on cold logic, or even the idea of “doing what is right.” The best part of Galad’s stance on the Children of the Light and their place in the world is when he points out that many of the Children, especial the Questioners, see Darkfriends in anyone who is even a little bit different, a little bit flawed, or a little bit against the methods and attitude of the Children of the Light. “You speak like a Questioner,” Galad said. “Suspecting everyone who opposes us of being a Darkfriend. Many of them are influenced by the Shadow, but I doubt that it is conscious. That is where the Hand of the Light went wrong. The Questioners often could not tell the difference between a hardened Darkfriend, a person who was being influenced by Darkfriends, and a person who simply disagreed with the Children.” Galad’s point that there is a difference between someone who is being influenced by Darkfriends and someone who is actually a Darkfriend is so important for the Whitecloaks to hear and take onboard. We as readers know that there are Darkfriends in every group of the world, including the Aes Sedai, and including the Children of the Light. The Shadow is working everywhere, trying to tempt others to join it, sure, but also to misguide and mislead, to confuse the Light and turn its forces against each other. By not considering a difference between someone who is a true Darkfriend and someone who has been manipulated by the Dark, the Whitecloaks may torture and execute the very people who most need protection and salvation from those who fight for the Light. They also run the risk of not noticing when they themselves are being manipulated by the Dark; indeed, most of the Whitecloaks we have met are so zealous that they are incapable of the kind of self-reflection needed to understand that even the most loyal soldier of the Light could be tricked or led astray by the right lie. Of course, the Whitecloaks are also suspicious of anyone who is different or who they don’t understand, which is both why they initially went after Perrin and his yellow eyes and why they hate the Aes Sedai and call them “witches.” True, there are other reasons for their disdain for the Aes Sedai. The Whitecloaks believe that the One Power is the purview of the Creator and consider its use by channelers to be some kind of abomination or sacrilege. This belief no doubt stems from the Breaking of the World: Both male and female channelers were called Aes Sedai during the Age of Legends, and your average non-channeler in this Age doesn’t know much about the difference between male and female channeling, or even understand that the One Power is divided into halves. Even if they understand the basic difference between saidin and saidar, and know that only men were tainted during the attack on Shayol Ghul and the sealing of the Bore, it makes sense that the Whitecloaks believe that the Aes Sedai as a whole are responsible for the Breaking of the World, whether one considers their use of the One Power merely hubris or something more blasphemous. Of course there are many who believe that the Aes Sedai are not just witches meddling with powers they should not be touching, but actually consider them all to be in league with the Shadow. Galad puts paid to this notion without even addressing it directly in his point that the Children can’t differentiate between Darkfriends, those who are being manipulated by Darkfriends, and those who merely disagree with the Children. He also says outright that even if the Aes Sedai are evil, it is nothing compared to the Evil of the Dark One. He is capable of putting his views on the Aes Sedai aside to focus on the most important danger currently facing the world. Whatever else Galad believes about the Aes Sedai, he understands that they will fight against the Dark in the Last Battle, and that as long as Tarmon Gai’don looms, this is more important than any other moral or philosophical or governmental disagreement between the Children of Light and the Aes Sedai, or the Children and the rulers of the world. In this, he shows himself to be very much like Rand, willing to make the same compromises that Rand is willing to make with organizations he sees as evil, such as the Seanchan. And then I am reminded that Rand and Galad are half-brothers, and that they both have a quiet and steady nature that makes them feel reliable to those around them. Galad may be a little less flexible than Rand, and a little more self-confident, but the similarities are definitely there.   I’ll be absolutely fascinated to see how Gawyn handles Perrin if the Whitecloaks actually manage to confront his army. There is every chance that Graendal’s meddling will interfere with the Children meeting up with Perrin and his forces and that they will be kept apart by the sudden appearance of Trollocs to fight, or Perrin and everyone being sucked into Tel’aran’rhiod by the dreamspike, or any number of other occurrences. But if Galad does meet Perrin and has to make some kind of decision about him, I’m not sure how that will go. Galad always does the right thing, but he needs the proper information to know what the right thing is. Even if Galad is able to suss out that Byar is lying about the death of Bornhald Sr., there is still the question of the other Whitecloaks that Perrin killed in defense of Hopper, and the fact that he is able to communicate with wolves in the first place. An organization that sees using the One Power as humans meddling with the divine is not likely to overlook something as supernatural as Perrin’s connection to wolves. From their point of view, how could they see something so strange and “unnatural” as coming from anywhere other than the Dark One? Even the Aes Sedai don’t really know anything about what a wolf brother is—Elyas was held captive by the Red Ajah after his nature manifested itself, accused of being a channeler—or what to do with them. One can hardly expect the Whitecloaks to be wiser about the whole thing. Even if Galad were to accept that Perrin’s connection to wolves is not of the Dark, there still remains the fact that he killed a Whitecloak (possibly two, I can’t remember) plus however many the wolves killed when they came to rescue him from Bornhald’s forces. Like Perrin, we the readers consider the death of Hopper something worth avenging, but I can’t really see the Whitecloaks, even someone as even-handed as Galad, being willing to consider the life of a wolf as being of equal value to the life of a man. It’s hard to imagine a world in which, in the eyes of the Children, Perrin isn’t at least a murderer of the ordinary kind, if not an agent of the Shadow. When it comes to Perrin’s section of chapter four, I was so happy to have him finally realize that he can’t just ignore and suppress the wolf side of himself. He has finally realized that he has been using the bits of his powers that serve him while suppressing everything that he found inconvenient and frightening about his nature. At the end of his section he considers: You couldn’t make a thing until you understood its parts. He wouldn’t know how to deal with—or reject—the wolf inside him until he understood the wolf dream. I relate to Perrin a lot because I, too, am a muller. I often feel like if I could just look at a problem from every angle, understand everything about it, then everything will fall into place and make sense. There certainly is a place for analyzing and thinking things through, especially when making difficult decisions or when working with other people, but not everything can be broken down and understood rationally. And this is especially true for emotions. Hopper is often perplexed by Perrin’s emotions for this very reason. Perrin thinks he can analyze and understand why he behaved the way he did while Faile was captured and that he can logic his way out of engaging with the anger he experiences in battle or the wolf’s desire to hunt. However, emotions are meant to be felt, and Perrin doesn’t allow himself to feel them because he is afraid of what those feelings might make him do. Ironically, the more you repress your emotions, the more control they have over you in the end, and this is where Perrin has ended up. He’s so quick to judge himself, or fear his own nature, or ignore the emotions that make him not want to be the leader he has clearly already become, whether he likes it or not. As a result he behaves badly as a leader, loses control over himself in battle, and struggles to learn in the wolf dream even when Hopper is willing to teach him. Animals don’t work this way. They feel their emotions when they happen, and do not judge or analyze them. They live in the moment. The wolves accept what they are. Hopper points out to Perrin that it is impossible to lose himself because all he has to do is look down and see himself there. He also points out to Perrin that worry is not the same as fear. Perrin is not afraid of the wolf, not in the way he claims. But he looks backward at the fate of Noam and forward to all the things that Perrin himself could do wrong and is paralyzed by that worry. Yet at the same time, he continues to be a wolfbrother, even if he doesn’t engage with those traits, just as he continues to be a leader, even as he tries to get away from that fact. Perrin’s mental state during Faiel’s captivity probably wouldn’t have been better if he was more accepting of himself and the person he has become, but the way he behaves as a leader would improve a lot. Most of the mistakes he makes happen when he is trying to stop being a leader (we’ll see more of this next week), at which point he uses those mistakes as proof that he is bad at leadership. A wolf accepts things as they are. If the situation grieves them, then they grieve. If they are angered, then they are angry. Perrin does neither, and as much as learning to walk in the Dream is important, I think the lesson of self-acceptance is even more important. The Pattern made Perrin a wolfbrother. It also made him ta’veren, and a leader. He can’t change that anymore than he can make himself shorter. He is allowed to regret those things, to dislike the role he has been thrust into, but he is letting those emotions drive him to fights he cannot win, and to a stubborn sort of deliberate ignorance towards things he really needs to understand. Both for his own good, and that of those for whom he is responsible. We’ll see more of this struggle next week in chapter six. Perrin has also had some visions. I’m not sure what it means that he saw the iron lumps from his other dream in the field, but the vision of Mat is probably about the gholam that is still stalking him. The fighting himself might be a reference to all the different people’s memories that are in his head and how he is trying to hang onto his own identity. (There’s that theme again.) I’m not sure about the second vision, though perhaps the beast that waits in the trees is Slayer? The third vision seems straightforward enough; Perrin and his friends are walking into Graendal’s trap. I didn’t know that there are other animals in the Dreamworld whose souls live there when they die, like the wolves do. At first I assumed the stag got into the dream the same way an ordinary person does, by accident, but we have never been told that dying in Tel’aran’rhiod is a permanent death of the soul for a dreamer, just that it kills them in the waking world if they die in the dream. Hopper specifically tells Perrin that if the stag dies in the dream it dies “the last death,” which implies that its soul lives in Tel’aran’rhiod just like Hopper’s does. I would really love to learn more about this, as it is a big shake-up of what we know about Tel’aran’rhiod. I do kind of love that we have Bornhald Jr. possibly about to confront Perrin in chapter four and then in chapter five we also are reminded of Gawyn’s desire to kill Rand. Neither man is right about who is responsible for his respective parent’s death. We see in both of them a reminder about how people can be led by their emotions, especially grief, to make wrong and hasty judgments. Combine that with the lack of information due to the lack of long-distance communication and the confusion the Dark is working so hard to spread, and you can see how people come to some very wrong conclusions that seem to be based on facts. I have to wonder about Byar, come to think of it. Is he such a bad guy because he is a religious zealot? Or is it possible that he is a Darkfriend, and his actions have an even more sinister goal behind them? The thing with Perrin is a lot more complicated than the thing with Rand and Morgase. The only reason the latter situation seems complicated is because few people know that Rahvin was involved and because there is no obvious proof. Of course, once Morgase is discovered to be alive, the whole problem solves itself. In the meantime, however, we must wait and see if Gawyn is willing to trust Egwene’s judgement, not just in the fact that the Dragon Reborn needs to remain free in order to fight the Last Battle, but also in her certainty that Rand did not murder Morgase. It would make sense for him to believe her. Egwene has more knowledge and understanding of Rand and of what is going on in the world than Gawyn does. Gawyn’s entire vendetta is based solely on rumors, after all. He should know better than to assume they must be true, to the point that he is willing to kill a man over them. Like his brother, Gawyn also sees how invaluable the Aes Sedai are when it comes to the Last Battle. He doesn’t understand the full nature of the Warder bond and what it does, but he does understand that every Aes Sedai is worth more than a hundred soldiers in the field, and that every healer will be able to save many lives that would otherwise be lost. There is a personal emotional investment behind his argument—his desire to be bonded to Egwene—but it is still an entirely logical one, so much so that Egwene is considering how to put it before the Hall. In this section Gawyn shows that he can be logical and understands how to lead, at least when it comes to being a military general. He also shows restraint and people skills he learned from Morgase as he deals with Chubain. Gawyn’s instincts are always towards hasty emotional reactions, but he is able to restrain himself and think logically about why Chubain might be so hostile towards Gawyn. Once he deduces the true reason for Chubain’s attitude, he is able to talk to the man and correct the misapprehension. Not only does this ease Chubain’s hostility, it seems to make Gawyn an ally, as Chubain is immediately interested in Gawyn’s assessment of the murders. He also seems to be aware that Gawyn’s closeness with Egwene could be an asset to Chubain in his own line of duty. I have to admit, it’s really difficult to care at all about Egwene and Galad’s relationship issues. Because there was no build up to them falling in love, and it just sort of spontaneously occurred out of nowhere, it doesn’t feel like a deep and real connection. They read as two infatuated teenagers more than two people struggling to reconcile a deep emotional bond and the bonds of duty that might end up keeping them apart. When Egwene describes how his presence threatens to overwhelm her resolve, it just seems like she’s being a silly girl with a crush, not like she’s struggling between a genuine romantic relationship that she wants as Egwene and the difference she must require as the Amyrlin. Gawyn seems even sillier. Granted, he is a little bit of a dummy, and he still has a naiveté about him that I vaguely remember Elayne having as well, when we first met her. Which makes sense, as Gawyn is actually pretty sheltered. Yes, he was involved in the White Tower coup and learned some hard lessons there, but he hasn’t seen much of the world, and his lessons and training have all been targeted towards him becoming First Prince of the Sword, a very specific job with very specific requirements. He certainly also had some of the training in leadership and reading people that Morgase gave Elayne and Galad, but he would need more leadership training from Bryne to be a general than he would need to be a ruler. Elayne being destined for the throne and Galad as a high-ranking noble would certainly have ended up in some kind of governing position as well, but Gawyn was always intended to be the head general of Andor. A lot of the boringness of Gawyn and Egwene’s relationship can be blamed on the fact that Jordan never really writes the process of people falling in love. The closest we get to a full arc is Perrin and Faile (and to a lesser extent, Nynaeve and Lan). However, it’s also true that Gawyn as a character is just kind of lame. He is in love with a version of Egwene that doesn’t exist: an innocent young Accepted that needs his protection. True, that view is starting to change as he keeps witnessing who Egwene is, but when it comes right down to it, I have to ask myself who it was he fell in love with, and if that image is even a little bit the same person Egwene is now. It almost feels like he is in love with the same version Rand was in love with, but Rand was well aware even early on that the girl he loved in the Two Rivers stopped existing the moment they left home. Egwene was aware of this as well about Rand. But then, that is Egwene’s point. It isn’t simple obedience she is looking for from Gawyn. It’s a perspective and an understanding of who she is. Gawyn wants to see Egwene the woman, but that woman is someone who became Amyrlin, who sees herself as Aes Sedai, who learned self-discipline and identity from the Aiel, and who carries the weight of responsibility for the fate of the White Tower and the World. Until Gawyn can see all that, he is not only unfit to be her Warder, but also unfit to be her lover. Another thing I completely forgot about is that the Seanchan left assassins in the White Tower. It’s interesting to realize that Egwene is blinded to other possibilities because she knows that Mesaana is in the Tower, and that Gawyn is actually closer to the truth than she is. His idea that it might be a Gray Man committing the murders is really smart, and the ter’angreal the Bloodknife assassins are given do seem to work similarly to the powers of a Gray Man, though not quite as powerfully, perhaps. We’ll have a chapter from Morgase’s point of view next week, which I am very excited about. Her perspective on Perrin and his companions is very interesting and different from the POVs we have had so far. Morgase is also just a really cool character. We’ve been reminded of that this week when both Galad and Gawyn were thinking of her teachings and leaning on them. I was especially touched when Galad referred to and thought of Morgase as his mother, not his step-mother. We’ll also visit Lan for a bit before returning to the possible confrontation between Perrin and the Whitecloaks. Exciting stuff! I’ll see you all next week for chapters six and seven.[end-mark] The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Perrin Dreams, Graendal Plans, and Gawyn Isn’t Ready in <i>Towers of Midnight</i> (Part 5) appeared first on Reactor.