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Reading The Wheel of Time: Rand, Perrin, and Galad Level up in Towers of Midnight (Part 3)
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The Wheel of Time
Reading The Wheel of Time: Rand, Perrin, and Galad Level up in Towers of Midnight (Part 3)
As chapter one of Towers of Midnight begins, Rand is coming down the mountain…
By Sylas K Barrett
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Published on July 21, 2026
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This week on Reading The Wheel of Time, we meet a very changed and magical Rand, a discouraged and worried Perrin, and a naked Galad. Yup, that’s right, we got a naked almost-torture scene with a hot guy instead of a lady this time! Only took thirteen books.
Let’s recap.
Chapter one opens with a wind that begins on frosty mountains and over the lands of Seanchan, torn by civil war and decimated with bloodshed, across the sea and all the way to an apple orchard, growing near the base of Dragonmount.
The orchard belongs to the sister of Almen Bunt, who has come to visit after receiving letters from his nephews, asking for help after their father’s death. Now a new tragedy has struck; somehow, all the young apples have shriveled and died, falling to the ground overnight, despite the fact that the trees remain perfectly healthy. His nephews exclaim over the tragedy, and how there is no food in the village. He gives them jobs to do to distract them from their alarm, but he himself is also deeply worried.
And then there was the incident that had killed Graeger. The man had walked around a corner over in Negin Bridge and vanished. When people went looking, all they found was a twisted, leafless tree with a gray-white trunk that smelled of sulphur.
Other strange occurrences have happened elsewhere, and all food seems to spoil or never grow at all. His own farm was attacked and every bite of food stolen. This harvest was supposed to save many people. Almen realizes that the fight is over.
Suddenly, he sees sunlight through a gap in the clouds. And then, astonishingly, the apple trees start flowering.
That was plain ridiculous. He rubbed his eyes, but that didn’t dispel the image. They were blooming, all of them, white flowers breaking out between the leaves. The flies buzzed into the air and zipped away on the wind. The dark bits of apple on the ground melted away, like wax before a flame. In seconds, there was nothing left of them, not even juice. The ground had absorbed them.
He hears footsteps and turns, seeing a young man in fancy clothes coming down the path that leads up Dragonmount. He asks if the stranger is lost, but the man replies that for the first time, he can see the path before him. It feels to Almen that they are having two different conversations, but he also feels drawn to the young man. Almen asks if he knows him, and the stranger replies that he does. Then he instructs Almen to take in the harvest and gather everyone in the village.
Almen looks, and the trees are impossibly laden with perfect ripe apples. He thinks perhaps he has gone mad.
“It’s not you who is mad, friend,” the stranger said. “But the entire world. Gather those apples quickly. My presence will hold him off for a time, I think, and whatever you take now should be safe from his touch.”
Almen suddenly remembers giving two youths a ride in his cart. He also realizes that this man could only be the Dragon Reborn. As the Dragon Reborn turns away, making a cryptic comment about going to do something he’s been putting off, and how he doubts that “she will be pleased by what [he] tells her.”
As Almen runs to tell his nephews what has happened and to gather the village to take in the harvest, he realizes that the usual pain in his hip is gone. He also feels a strong pull to follow the Dragon Reborn.
In Ghealdan, Perrin and his followers make their way through muddy fields and onto a slightly less muddy road. They were attacked by a bubble of evil that manifested as snakes whose bites were particularly debilitating for channelers. No one died, thanks to Aes Sedai healing, but Masuri, Grady and Neald are all still recovering, which means Perrin still has no access to Gateways.
He has also been taking on random mercenaries, sell-swords, and other strays as they travel. Not everyone agrees with this choice, as they barely have enough supplies for the initial group, and some of the recruits may be bandits or deserters. But Perrin can’t bring himself to turn anyone away.
Perrin is feeling very despondent about himself and his behavior during Faile’s captivity. He blames himself for Aram’s demise, for neglecting his duties while consumed by the need to save Faile. He is frustrated by the ongoing struggle with Berelain, who has reverted to her old ways now that Faile is back. He also blames himself for not bringing Masema back to Rand, as charged; Perrin discovered Masema’s body, along with those of the rest of the Prophet’s followers, apparently killed by bandits.
Gaul brings Perrin Fennel, one of those Perrin sent ahead with Master Gill. Perrin is told that Gill and the others learned that the road north is completely impassable for carts and wagons; they made the decision to turn towards Lugard and then reach Caemlyn from there. Gill stayed behind to give Perrin the news.
Perrin is initially frustrated, then realizes the sense of the decision. He praises Fennel’s bravery in staying behind to wait, alone, for an unknown period of time.
Gaul has found a place to camp, and Perrin decides everyone should have a rest before he decides whether to head on to Lugard. He discusses the matter with Faile, who points out that they have collected five thousand people, or more, on their journey. They are recruiting an army, and she suggests Perrin’s ta’veren power is drawing everyone to them.
Perrin denies this, insisting that he is not building an army and is not a good leader. He is determined to send everyone home, or to someplace safe, as soon as he can.
He gripped the blacksmith’s puzzle in his pocket. They’d discussed this during the weeks since Malden, but she refused to see sense. “The camp was a mess while you were gone, Faile! I’ve told you how Arganda and the Maidens nearly killed one another. And Aram—Masema corrupted him right under my nose. The Aes Sedai played at games I can’t guess, and the Two Rivers men… you see how they look at me with shame in their eyes.”
Faile is angry at the Two Rivers men, but as to the rest, she explains to Perrin that everyone has told her how well he did, keeping the peace, acting decisively, and keeping everyone on task to make the rescue happen, even working with the Seanchan effectively. She muses that perhaps what happened to her had to happen, for both of them.
Perrin doesn’t have a chance to ask what she means as one of the Maidens approaches and tells him that there is something on the road ahead that he will want to see.
Galad wakes in a tent, naked and bound and bleeding. As his head clears and vision returns to normal, he takes stock of his injuries. He isn’t afraid of dying or of pain; he knows he made the right choice. He doesn’t even blame the scouts who betrayed him, since the Questioners have great authority among the Children, and would have told convincing lies. But he regrets leaving Asunawa in charge, since they are in league with the Seanchan.
Still, he feels that he won a victory by negotiating for the safety of his own followers. The other victory will be to refuse to name himself a Darkfriend, no matter what is done to him. Using a bit of cloth and spit he cleans himself up as best he can, and drags himself to his feet when he hears someone coming.
Those who enter are surprised to see Galad standing. He is even more surprised to see Trom, along with Bornhald and Byar, instead of Questioners.
They unlock his manacles, putting off his protests that they are not supposed to rescue him. Then they present him with Asunawa’s head.
All three men drew swords and knelt before him, the points of their weapons stabbing the canvas. Trom unlocked the manacles at Galad’s feet.
Galad accuses them of turning against fellow Children, but the Lord Captains explain that despite the loss of two Lord Captain Commanders in less than a year, plus the chaos of the world and the Seanchan threat, Asunawa tried to make them fight other Children. Galad, by contrast, presented himself as a Child of the Light should, and then Asunawa tried to name him a Darkfriend.
They had to kill about a third of the Questioners, though some sided with them and others tried to escape. The Amadicians who were following Asunawa didn’t interfere, and many would rather stay with the Children than go back to the Seanchan. Those who wished to return to their families were allowed to do so.
Galad accepts their allegiance to him as Lord Captain Commander. Privately, he doesn’t feel capable of the responsibility, but he knows this is what must be done.
I’ve always sort of wondered if the being known as the Dragon is really human. I mean, I think he’s mostly human, but he is different from everyone else, even the heroes of the horn—who are constantly reincarnated to serve the Pattern, just like the Dragon is—or other great ta’veren like Perrin and Mat, or Artur Hawkwing. Although we have seen other powerful channelers use the One Power instinctively and even “discover” or “create” new weaves, no one else has the kind of Power the Dragon has, and it seems as though he has a direct tie to the Creator that regular humans don’t have.
Granted, the world of the Wheel of Time is a wide one, and we are only getting a sliver of a glimpse of a single Age, and there are creatures and lands and Ages we know nothing about. But as far as we have seen, the Dragon is more than just the most powerful channeler of his Age.
(A possible exception to this is Amaresu, who is apparently the female counterpart to the Dragon. But I only know about her because a fan mentioned it to me on Bluesky, so I’m not prepared to address her.)
I have a theory, which I’ve mentioned before, that Shaidar Haran might be a sort of vessel or construct that the Dark One can put a sliver of himself through, in order to interact with the world. And I wonder if the Dragon is something similar, not the Creator itself, but perhaps a piece of that being’s consciousness, or that being’s attributes put into a human-shaped soul. This chapter certainly fits with my theory, as Rand’s ta’veren manipulation of the Pattern seems to have hugely leveled up.
Before he channeled the “True Power” for the first time, Rand’s ta’veren abilities seemed to have functioned normally, although much more powerfully than any other ta’veren in his Age. According to Min, his effects on the Pattern brought both good and bad results for those affected, but created an equal balance of both. And as we know, the Dragon Reborn is an agent of change, his soul spun out by the Pattern in its metaphorical hour of need. He is not just destined to fight the Dark One; he also exists to prepare the world for the Last Battle, which means uniting everyone under one leader. I think this is why he was prophesied to sever all ties: All allegiances must come second to the shared goal of the world to defeat the Dark.
Rand no longer seemed to be bringing balance, however, after he channeled the “True Power” for the first time. It seemed that his ta’veren effect was tainted somehow, bringing about only accidents and death, but with no good results to balance the ill. This didn’t go on for very long, but enough people observed the phenomenon, including Cadsuane and Rand himself, that it does seem to be the case.
Now, things have shifted again. During his confrontation with himself on Dragonmount, Rand seems to have connected with the Light, banishing his dark moods and deep despair, finding not only the true Good in himself but also, and most importantly, finding hope. Then, his first act as this newly healed being is to come down off of Dragonmount, find someone else who has lost all hope, and restore it to him.
The fact that it was specifically apple trees that Rand causes to bloom and then fruit is very symbolically significant, as apples have a lot of connotations in western mythology. In Greek and Roman mythology they are often associated with the gods, and particularly with life, health, and love. In Norse mythology there are apples of immortality, which the gods eat when they get old and then become young again. And of course, Christian readers will think of the apple in the garden of Eden, from which Eve and Adam ate and gained knowledge of Good and Evil.
Rand has clearly gained a new understanding of Good and Evil. He has come to understand the point of the cycle of reincarnation, which is second chances, and of life, which is love and connection. By extension, I think we can assume that he understands that despair and disconnection are weapons of the Dark One. The endless stormy skies, the strange supernatural occurrences resulting from the disruption of the Pattern, the destruction of food sources, are all aimed not only at breaking humanity down physically, but mentally as well. It isn’t explicitly stated, but I think Rand knows this, and is prepared to do what he can to counteract it.
He seems to understand his new abilities, at least to some extent, as he tells Almen that Rand’s presence will “hold him off for a time,” clearly meaning the Dark One, and that what is picked should remain safe from his touch. This knowledge seems to be instinctual; he hasn’t had enough time to study this new effect and yet he appears to know exactly how it works.
Rand has brought life and hope to Almen. Not only are the apples going to save the village from starvation, but the aged Almen finds himself physically hale and even spritely, after a few moments in Rand’s presence. The village was also counting on this apple harvest, which means Rand has brought life and hope to all those people as well.
The apples also feel significant because we know that Rand and Tam made apple cider and apple brandy to sell in Emond’s Field. The fact that Rand seems to have refound that part of himself, and that an encounter with Tam was the catalyst for the revelation, fits very well with the connection to apples, a reminder of home, and of the father he loves.
It was his love for Tam, after all, that made Rand decide to change. Despite how bad everything was, how he was losing friends and losing trust in those he relied upon, despite the fact that he hated himself for what he felt he must do and must become, none of that was enough to make Rand confront himself. But when he hurt Tam, and nearly killed him, that realization prompted Rand to honestly look at himself and to ask the questions he has been avoiding.
And now he encounters an elderly farmer, one who helped him back when he still thought of himself as an ordinary shepherd, and was not yet aware that he was also the Dragon Reborn. And he makes apple trees grow.
This is why I feel like Rand is more than an ordinary human. Even the most powerful and important Heroes of the Horn, those who are spun out again and again, don’t feel like supernatural beings. Important, special beings, yes, but still humans. When I think about it, even Lews Therin seemed like a real human being, an extraordinary and powerful one, yes, but he wasn’t counteracting the Dark One’s touch with his very presence or causing trees to flower and bear fully-ripened fruit in a matter of minutes. This is something more than ta’veren, and it seems to happen without Rand channeling—though since the chapter is not from Rand’s POV, we don’t know that for sure.
Now that Rand’s power is a sort of counter to the Dark One’s influence, I imagine we won’t see him causing accidents or other disasters the way he did when he was causing a good for every ill (or vice-versa) and his effect was balanced. Because now it is still balanced, but it is balanced between him and the Dark One, instead of having Rand as the fulcrum in the center of the see-saw. But the Dark One is an entity outside of creation, something more like the creator than any human being, and so, again, I find myself thinking that Rand must be something more than human.
The theme of Rand as a chosen one savior has been baked into the story from the beginning; Robert Jordan has drawn on many influences, fantasy and science fiction novels, mythology and religion. The Jesus imagery is particularly strong here, though, with the way he affects nature, and also the image of him coming down off Dragonmount. It made me think about the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus imparted to his disciples a new set of rules and teachings, those which many Christians see as being the sort of fundamental tenets of their religion. Rand has faced his time in the desert (metaphorically speaking) and his temptation by the devil (the despair and violent rage the Dark One worked to instill in Rand through the effects of the taint and the actions of the Forsaken). Now he has come down off the mount to minister to the people (again, metaphorically speaking.)
Rand having his revelation while alone also is somewhat reminiscent of Siddhartha Gautama’s journey to enlightenment and becoming the Buddha. This comparison is enhanced by the fact that Rand lives in a world in which existence and time are cyclical, and human beings are reincarnated over and over again. Like Siddhartha, Rand struggled with the concept that life is suffering and that reincarnation makes that suffering endless. He also achieved his moment of enlightenment while alone in nature. However, Siddhartha’s ultimate revelation was that the cycle of reincarnation is suffering, and that being attached to the world leads to suffering, and that the ultimate goal of enlightenment is to transcend the cycle of death, rebirth, and suffering to a sort of higher plane. Rand’s conclusion is that, even though it brings suffering, living is something to be celebrated, and that reincarnation is a gift because it offers second chances and the ability to experience love again and again.
I am curious who the “she” is that Rand is going to go talk to. Cadsuane, maybe? He does need to deal with that, and while Cadsuane was sort of right about the journey Rand needed to go on, she was also wrong about how to help him, and what he actually needed from the people around him. Maybe that’s what he thinks she won’t like.
But Rand also says he has been putting it off for a while, and the whole banishing of Cadsuane only took place a few days ago.
Oh. Oh wait.
He is going to go talk to Egwene.
It took writing it out for me to realize, but of course it’s Egwene. Rand knows she was made Amyrlin, and dealing with the White Tower is something he has to do, even if he wants to stay as far away as possible. I’m not sure what Rand knows about how the Tower civil war is going, but even if he isn’t aware that Elaida was captured and Egwene is now Amyrlin of the entire united White Tower, Rand would never see Elaida as a legitimate Amyrlin as long as there was another option available. Honestly, I can’t imagine him talking to Elaida under any circumstances, though maybe his new Jesus/Buddha form is zen enough, and powerful enough, to make that work.
In any case, while Egwene is going to be far more able to see Rand clearly than any other Aes Sedai, she has indicated in some of her POV sections that she does think of him as needing to be managed and controlled. Egwene has really taken on the Aes Sedai worldview, and may very well believe the White Tower, and therefore the Amyrlin, should be the true leader in the Last Battle, or at least equal to the Dragon. Rand will no doubt have a different perspective. Perhaps he will ask Egwene and the Aes Sedai to fill certain roles or responsibilities as he dictates.
Rand might also be intending to talk to Egwene about the non-consensual bonding of Aes Sedai by Asha’man, which she certainly won’t like.
Interestingly, Galad is having a similar experience to Rand, in so far as he has faced a crucible of sorts and come out as the person he is supposed to be, in the place he is supposed to be. In the moments where he prepares himself to be questioned, Galad is certain that he will die, and what is important to him is the kind of man he has been, and continues to be, in his final moments. He considers himself to have won a victory by securing the safety of his men through persuasive argument, and he doesn’t hold animosity towards Asunawa’s followers, only Asunawa himself. Galad also puts a lot of stock into how he appears in those last moments, going so far as to clean himself up and make sure he is standing when his captors come to find him.
He reminded me a lot of Egwene in that moment, with the way his focus on other things made his pains less present, less important than his rituals and his goals. When he forced himself to stand and face those coming to torture him, it reminded me of Siuan as well.
Galad also reminds me of Egwene because he is sort of quintessentially what a Whitecloak is supposed to be, in the same way she is what an Aes Sedai is supposed to be. I suspect that, as the Lord Captain Commander, he will be doing much the same thing as Egwene is: reorienting the organization around its stated intent, getting rid of infighting and distractions, and focusing the Children on the job of fighting in the Last Battle alongside every enemy of the Dark, regardless of how they feel about their allies.
(Speaking of prejudice against the White Tower, I thought it was kind of odd that Almen wondered if the Aes Sedai were responsible for the blighting of the crops, even going so far as to think of them as “the witches” and of the White Tower as their “nest.” Given that he’s from Andor and was loyal to Morgase when Rand and Mat met him, I wonder if his disdain for, and fear of, the Aes Sedai is reflective of the effects of Rahvin’s meddling and of the Dark’s efforts to spread fear and mistrust through the land. Or maybe he’s never liked the Aes Sedai; prejudice against channelers can exist everywhere, even in Andor.)
I still don’t love the Children of the Light as an organization, and I do think that there is a real danger inherent in thinking of yourselves as the most important and most righteous organization in the world. But if anyone can hold them to the highest moral standards and keep them focused on defending the Light instead of persecuting anyone who seems different from them, it’s Galad Damodred.
It feels fitting to see Galad achieve this position around the same time that Rand comes into his own as the Dragon Reborn. They are half-brothers, after all.
Perrin, in contrast to Galad and Rand, has not yet accepted his identity and position as a leader. It’s actually very interesting because Galad’s journey doesn’t require him to redefine himself. Instead, it is all about affirming the way he already understands himself and finding the place where that man fits best in the world. Rand, on the other hand, knew who he was and had that upended by the revelation that he was the Dragon Reborn: a figure of myth and legend and prophecy and fear, something more than a man at least figuratively, possibly also literally.
Perrin is a lot like Rand, really. His ta’veren powers work more similarly to the way Rand’s did before his mountaintop revelation. Perrin is capable of convincing people and swaying them to agree with his opinions or do as he wishes them to do, and now we also see that he is drawing people to him, pulling them with his ta’veren power. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Perrin’s ta’veren nature helped keep everything together amongst his followers while they were working on the rescue, keeping all the groups from going for each other’s throats, and in particular keeping Arganda from rushing off on his own to attempt a futile rescue of Alliandre.
I really appreciated the conversation Perrin had with Arganda about the mercenaries. As they are now in Ghealdan, Arganda believes that these are deserters from his Queen’s army who should be brought to justice (via execution). But Perrin’s argument that they won’t string people up without proof of crimes is both moral and practical. Perrin is often thinking like a general and a leader, even if he doesn’t realize it and doesn’t want to accept it. Faile is well aware that they are gathering an army, and I think some part of Perrin is doing that instinctively. He has a knack for making people comfortable with him, and for keeping the peace between disparate groups—as mentioned above, perhaps with the aid of ta’veren-ness. The Pattern made him ta’veren to help prepare the world for Tarmon Gai’don, after all, and so Perrin is going to follow that drive whether he means to or not. After all, being ta’veren doesn’t just mean affecting the Pattern; it can also mean being especially constrained by it.
The bubbles of evil sure are getting more prevalent. Feels like more than a coincidence that Perrin’s gateway-makers were all injured by the supernatural snake attack. The fact that channelers were more vulnerable to the effects of the bites than non-channelers jibes with the other vulnerabilities of being a channeler. But the fact that both Grady and Neald were affected was either really bad luck or some kind of design of the Dark. And of course the bubbles seem to be drawn to ta’veren so that is going to affect how many of them Perrin’s party encounters.
I do love the way the Dark One’s touch cycles through uncomfortable states of nature. First a winter that won’t break, then a scorching summer that dries out the land and kills the crops, then a heavy winter and another spring that won’t come. And now… mud. Perrin doesn’t have a full swamp to deal with the way Galad did, but the mud seems pretty bad. I was uncomfortable just reading about it.
Traveling is getting more and more difficult for everyone, even now that winter is well past. I think the Dark One is throwing everything he’s got at humanity, in that respect. Perhaps he is aware of some of the strides the heroes of the Light have made in finally uniting their forces, but even if he isn’t, it still behooves him to prevent their armies from being able to reach each other, and especially to reach places where the Dark One’s armies are attacking. Like the Borderlands.
Perrin’s journey is bit like Rand’s in that he found out he was something strange and supernatural, and that he feels both defined by it and determined to resist it. But Perrin’s journey to understanding his identity, while somewhat less fraught than Rand’s, is also less clear. There are no prophecies (he’s mentioned in the Karaethon Cycle, but more as an omen than anything) to tell him what or who he is supposed to be. There is barely any understanding in the world, even by Aes Sedai, as to what a wolf brother even is. Like Rand, he was a simple Emond’s Field boy one day and something strange and terrifying the next; unlike Rand, he doesn’t have everyone telling him that he has to accept who he is or the entire world will be destroyed.
There are really two parts to Perrin’s inability to accept himself as a leader. The first is something I want to touch on in a separate essay, so I’ll move on to the second, which is that Perrin is very aware right now that he has not lived up to the standards he thinks a leader should meet.
He knows that he put Faile’s return above the needs of those who followed him and for whom he was responsible. He failed to anticipate Masema’s corruption of Aram. He even blames himself for not being able to keep Berelain in check the way he would have liked to, resulting in the Two Rivers men believing he cheated on Faile.
I would argue that what happened with Berelain wasn’t Perrin’s fault at all. He needed her help in accomplishing the rescue, and he needed someone to take care of him when he was ill. He could hardly put Berelain on house arrest (tent arrest?) or order her not to talk on penalty of some great punishment. There really is no moral way for him to prevent her from spreading rumors, if that’s what she chooses to do, and if the men from the Two Rivers take her word over Perrin’s, he can’t control that either. (And I very much appreciate Faile’s anger about all this on his behalf.)
As far as the other ways in which Perrin feels that he has failed to be a good leader, there is some merit to them. He did have a responsibility to Aram that he failed to uphold, and he did choose to focus on rescuing his wife to the exclusion of all else. However, as Faile points out, he also managed to keep everyone together and mostly prevent in-fighting, and even if his heart only cared about Faile, the functional result of his actions was rescuing not only Faile but also the other followers of his—including Alliandre, Queen of Ghealdan and his liege woman—for whom he was responsible. In addition he freed many innocent captives of the Shaido, and greatly diminished the threat of further Shaido attacks.
His alliance with the Seanchan is a bit of a mixed bag, morally speaking, especially given the collaring of the channelers. But Perrin did show a marked ability to work with people he dislikes, and even those he considers his enemies, towards a common goal. This will no doubt prove very valuable during the Last Battle; Rand has not yet been able to secure an alliance with the Seanchan, but he will before the end. Perhaps Perrin’s actions will even help Rand reach that goal, since we saw General Khirgan speak highly of him to Fortuona, and even suggest that it might be better to ally with Perrin and his people than to try to conquer them.
Perrin may not have done everything right during the time Faile was a captive, but he did ultimately succeed in his goals and mostly take care of his people in the process. However, Perrin sees every mistake and less than perfect result as proof that he is not fit to be a leader. He is aware that Faile is more important to him that anything, that even after recognizing the danger of putting her before every responsibility and duty, even fighting the Last Battle, he would do the same thing again. He sees this as a horrible flaw, just as he sees his anger and his ability to engage in violence.
Perrin’s journey really is a lot like Rand’s. He, too, sees an ill for every good while the people around him see the opposite. While Rand struggled to kill off the best parts of himself because he believed that was required of the Dragon Reborn, Perrin sees his humanity as a flaw, even as he fears becoming the wolf.
Back in The Great Hunt, when Perrin encouraged the people of the Two Rivers to fight the Trollocs, he had to face the truth that leading people into battle means watching them die. He had to figure out how to deal with feeling responsible for their deaths. However, he was only responsible in so far as he encouraged them to fight, and he knew that if they didn’t fight, they would be overrun and killed anyway. Now he is facing a harder version of that lesson: the fact that he is only human, and that he will make mistakes, ones that will cost people their lives. There is no way around that lesson, but it is a harder one to swallow than the first. We saw Rand struggle with it too.
Faile has a more realistic view of leadership, what it can be and what it needs to be, than Perrin, because she was raised by leaders. Her father is a Marshal-General, so of course he knows everything about what it means to lead men into battle and to make decisions on which his soldiers’ lives depend. He has had to carry the burden of making mistakes, of losing underlings and colleagues he respected and cared about. Faile’s mother is the daughter of a king, and we have seen how she leads and carries herself as Bashere’s wife. Faile’s cousin, Tenobia, is Queen of Saldaea.
Faile would have been taught by her family, and by her observations, about the cost that comes with leadership. She has imparted some of those lessons to Perrin, but this one, this acceptance of his human flaws while still seeing the good that he has done, and is yet to do, is a difficult one for anyone to learn. And Perrin, as we know, learns slowly. Not because he isn’t intelligent—we have seen how smart he is time and again—but because Perrin is slow to change. One of the first things we learned about him as a character, way back in The Eye of the World, is that he likes to think things through thoroughly before making a decision. He doesn’t want to be hasty, and that is due in large part to the fact that he has always been aware of his own size and strength and didn’t want to hurt anyone accidentally.
Perrin still has a way to go in his journey to self-acceptance and deciding who he wants to be, and there is a lot more to discuss (be on the lookout for my next essay!) but for now I will leave him and Faile to look after their growing army and to go investigate whatever it is the Aiel found, which we should learn about next week as we cover chapter three—which is about Egwene—and the return to Perrin’s POV. See you all next week. Same Dragon time, same Dragon channel.[end-mark]
The post Reading The Wheel of Time: Rand, Perrin, and Galad Level up in <i>Towers of Midnight</i> (Part 3) appeared first on Reactor.
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