Far From the Madding Crowd

Book; 9: Winter's Heart

Chapter; 34: The Hummingbird's Secret

Character Groups;

Far Madding: Rand, Min, Nynaeve, Lan, Cadsuane, Verin, Alvia.

Ebou Dar: Mat, Thom, Julin, Thera, Noal, Olver, Tuon, Selucia, Egeanin, Setaille, Aludra, 3 Aes Sedai, 3 sul'dam.

Ghealdan: Perrin, Elyas, Berelain, 'The Prophet', Two Rivers Army.

Ghealdan too: Faile, Alliandre, Morgase, Shaido Aiel.

Caemlyn: Elayne, Birgitte, Aviendha.                        

The soothing balm of book 9 has washed away the stresses of the mid-series slump (although for obvious reasons, Mat's entourage is getting a little hard to keep track of) and I feel the urge to be positive again.

In Winter’s Heart, Mat schemes, Perrin hunts and Rand, finally, mans up and gets his murder-rampage on.

Ok, so maybe rampage is a bit strong as he is actually being very calm about the whole thing, and yes, he only manages to personally kill one of the four men on his death list but it’s the thought that counts.

The important point is that these events take place in the city of Far Madding, a small independent city state that is all that remains of the country of Maredo. Far Madding’s survival is in no small part due to the presence of the Guardian, a huge ter’angreal that blocks channellers from using the source. The men that Rand wants to kill are Asha’man, men who can channel and have attended the school that Rand set up. At the end of book 8 they had a damn good go at killing Rand, destroying half a royal palace in the process. The fun part is that since none of them can throw fireballs or blow each others heads up while in Far Madding we get to see some good, old fashioned swordplay.

Rand al’Thor is a blademaster. He picked up the sword in the months after he left the Two Rivers under Lan’s tutelage and is known to be one of the quickest studies ever. This is not entirely surprising as he is the reincarnation of the chap who invented sword-fighting in the first place. However, apart from a bit of sparring in book 8 which was interrupted by everyone’s favourite death-fog,  since he became more proficient at channelling he hasn’t really bothered. Why draw your sword when ripping someone out of time is so much easier? Unlike most of the Asha’man though, who think that swords are a bit beneath them, Rand has at least stayed in practice.

Sword fighting in Randland is, like everything else, a verbose affair. Every movement in the ‘dance’ has a long flowery name that I guess is supposed to allow readers to visualise the action. I have the good fortune to have some experience with Japanese sword forms (and a library of martial arts and anime DVDs) and so I can kind of figure out what is meant to be happening. It can get a bit silly at times, especially if there are two blademasters duelling and you get sentences like “Boar Rushes Down A Hillside meets River Undercuts The Bank, Hummingbird Kisses the Honeyrose meets Crane Takes Flight, Great Big Pointy Sword meets Feeble Knee Ligaments”. Not only are there Far Too Many Capital Letters in there but you can sometimes miss something because your brain has just started to filter out the surplus.

Still, I like this return to form by Rand. With Elayne filling in the intrigue and politics quota and the Seanchan doing the big armies thing, the three musketeers can get out of the mud and get back to what they are best at, dancing for my amusement. Dance monkeys! Dance!

If anybody can, Seanchan.

Book; 9: Winter's Heart

Chapter; 1: Leaving the Prophet

Character Groups;

Ebou Dar         Caemlyn        ???                Ghealdan 1                   Ghealdan 2             Tar Valon 

Mat                  Elayne          Rand             Perrin                            Faile                       Egwene

Thom               Nynaeve       Min               Elyas                            Alliandre                Rebel Aes Sedai

Julin                 Aviendha                          Berelain                        Morgase                  Egwene'sArmy    

Olver                Birgitte                            'The Prophet'  

The Seanchan                                           Two Rivers army       

 

As the relevant cast list slowly and inexorably builds to some kind of critical mass, I would like to take a moment to discuss just one group. Yes, as promised, it is time for the Seanchan. That's SHAWN-chan by the way, like Jackie's Irish little brother.

 

The Seanchan first showed up way back in book 2 where they received a darn good spanking from the scooby gang and fled across the sea to regroup. They returned in spectacular fashion at the end of book 7 by dropping a building on Mat. Even after a second, less decisive defeat in book 8 (which I finished in less than a week by the way) they now control Tarabon, Amadicia, Altara and most of Almoth Plain and Arad Doman. They are a force to be reckoned with, the only force on the planet that has so far been able to teach Rand a touch of humility. And they kinda get on my nerves.

The story goes that 1000 years ago, the High king of all Randland, Artur Hawkwing, sent his son Luthair with a great big army to conquer the lands across the Aryth Ocean. This took him, and his descendants, eight HUNDRED years. Frankly I would not be giving that boy his pocket money. Anyway, having done what Daddy said, they built an armada and turned their thoughts to going home, expecting to find the glorious Empire waiting for them with open arms. To their surprise, a lot seems to have changed over the last millennium. Declaring that everybody in Randland is an oathbreaker and a traitor, the only reasonable course of action was of course to invade.

Tarabon and Arad Doman put up little resistance as they were busy having civil wars and definitely seem to have improved under Seanchan rule. Other countries have been less willing but the coupling of a highly trained army and a ruthless bureaucracy has so far won out.

Obviously the new overlords have new laws for their subjects to remember. Whilst bowing to any Seanchan in the street and baldness being illegal are odd, they are a minor inconvenience compared to what they do if you can channel.

The power of the Seanchan throne is built on the Power of the damane, women who can channel, on leashes. The leash, known as an a'dam, controls a channelling woman making her no more than a complicated tool or a well trained animal. Which is exactly how the Seanchan see them. The controllers are known as sul'dam and are amongst the most respected and honoured people on the whole Seanchan Empire. 

But there is a dirty secret behind all this power. Although the damane are treated like animals and the sul'dam like heroes, they can, in fact, both channel. Damane are women like Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve who can channel whether someone teaches them or not, while the sul'dam are like Elayne's mother Morgase, they will never channel unless someone draws it out of them. If this became common knowledge it would destroy the Empire from the inside out, especially since the Empress herself (may she live forever) is know to be sul'dam. But no one seems to be able to come up with a way of spilling the beans. The few Seanchan who have discovered the truth have done everything in their power to cover it up and the war machine simply keeps chugging on, refusing to listen to reason.

 

But at least they get stuff done. An approach that has finally rubbed off on some of the other characters. With his megalomania given a kicking by the Seanchan boot, Rand has turned away from politics and is concentrating on more interesting things. And the plot moves on!