Mat wandered through the Stone's collection of angreal and ter'angreal, and later decided to enter the Twisted redstone doorframe which Egwene had told him about. The ter'angreal doorway took him to the land of the Aelfinn, snakelike creatures with oracular powers.

That’s my favourite record of all time. It really changed my life after the first spins. I’m sure this Epic Metal Blog wouldn’t even exist without this masterpiece – and my colleagues adore it, too. What’s your favourite album this year (so far)? During Galad's fight with Eamon Valda, he describes a heightened sense of awareness: "Every creak of saddle leather was clear and distinct, every ringing stamp of hoof on paving stone. He could hear the flies buzzing ten feet away as though they were at his ear. He almost thought he could see the movements of their wings." [4] These sensory experiences aren't described in the same way by others who use the Oneness ( Lan Mandragoran, Tam al'Thor), only channelers. Thus there is a chance, given Galad's parentage (relatives on both his mother's side and his father's side can channel), that he has spark and has begun to channel unconsciously. Rodel Ituralde tells a story about an unnamed Court Bard in Caemlyn, who must be Thom, juggling in front of an unnamed Daughter-Heir, who must be Elayne. [18] Having reached the point of juggling ten balls, he yielded to the clamor of the crowd, and his assistant tossed out an eleventh.Perrin approaches Loial about taking him home via the Ways, but finds Faile there before him. Faile has made Loial promise to take her through the Ways before anyone else. Lan confronts Nynaeve about her plans to travel to Tanchico, then offers to leave Moiraine and come with her. Nynaeve sends him away. And it’s not just behaviour that’s heavily gendered in The Wheel of Time – the magic in the books is different for men and women. The male half of the One Power, Saidin, has been poisoned long ago by mega baddie Shai’tan (the Dark One), sending all male magic practitioners mad. This means that only women can use magic in the present-day world – so far, so feminist – but their half is called saidar, and while men must master saidin to channel it, women must submit to saidar. Hmm.

Elayne asks Rand to kiss her. Mat asks Egwene for advice; she tells him about the redstone ter’angreal Moiraine mentioned. The best thing about reading this series is the constant reminder of how long it is. As I readthis, I frequently looked up at my Wheel of Time shelf, at the nine books I have yet to read in the series, which serve as a reminder that I’ve barely scratched the surface of this totally epic fantasy world. I have so much left to see. Elayne and Nynaeve arrive in Tanchico. They reunite with trader-turned-smuggler Bayle Domon, who sets them up with an inn and an information network. In Tel’aran’rhiod, Nynaeve encounters the dead hero Birgitte, and nearly runs afoul of both Slayer and the Forsaken Asmodean. While Thom's date of birth is not given in the books or The Wheel of Time Companion, Robert Jordan's private notes on Andor state he is about 19-20 years older than Morgase, placing his year of birth as 937-938 NE and in his early 60s during the main events of the book. [ verify] While this is not a fully canonical source, it fits in well with comments made by other characters, namely him being roughly "twice [Morgase's] age" and still "in his prime" in period leading up to 985 NE. [4] [5] [6] Mat is a peerless tactician. Aided by memories collected by the Aelfinn and Eelfinn from generals that entered the lands of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn between the Trolloc Wars and the War of a Hundred Years, his tactical acumen is such that no army under his command has ever suffered a defeat, no matter what the odds seem to be.

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The Shadow Rising takes place not very long after the events of the 3rd book in the series, the Dragon Reborn, where the group finds themselves at the stone trying to figure out what must be done next.

I think that guy (no link here!) needs a fresh pair of ears… Anyway, Shadow Rising sounds and LOOKS amazing. How did you get in touch with Ken Kelly? Thom was hot-headed but generally kind and considerate, though he nursed a hatred of the Red Ajah and a distrust of all Aes Sedai following their treatment of his nephew. A great player of Daes Dae'mar, Thom was able to sort out what was important among the information he gathered and what was lies. He assisted Matrim Cauthon in rescuing Moiraine from the Tower of Ghenjei and became her Warder and husband. Thom tagged along with Moiraine,when she entered the discussion between Rand and all the other monarchs of the land at the Field of Merrilor. There Moiraine managed to quell all arguments against Rand, leading to all the rulers signing the Dragon's Peace. Thom was with Rand when he stood outside Shayol Ghul testing whether the Dull dagger worked. Thom decided to guard the entrance to the Bore rather than enter with Rand, Moiraine, and Nynaeve. He kissed Moiraine goodbye and watched them as they enter the Pit of Doom. There were many channelers wearing Mask of Mirrors posing as, among others, Cadsuane Melaidhrin. He killed at least five intruders, the last one being Jeaine Caide, and dumped their bodies in a hollow not far from his position. He used his time guarding the passage writing a ballad telling Rand's tale and the Last Battle. He compared several words to each other to determine which ones he would use.

Perrin learns his entire family has been killed. Trollocs have been blamed for this. Perrin decides against giving himself up to the Whitecloaks and instead to rescue people from them. Padan Fain has linked up with the Whitecloaks, and we learn that he was the one who killed Perrin's family. Bornhald does not trust Fain, as Whitecloaks sent to accompany him tend to die. Fain has killed two Gray Men sent after him and is keeping a Myrddraal prisoner in his tent. Mat enters a separate ter'angreal, this time to the land of the fox heads (Eelfinn), in the belief this will also allow him to ask questions. Instead, he is given gifts, based on requests he makes. These are memories of dead lords, soldiers and generals, to fill up holes in his memory from when he had the dagger, an amulet to protect him from Aes Sedai and the One Power, and the ashandarei, which is like a spear, but with a more sword-like blade on the end. He also gains the ability to fully understand and speak the Old Tongue. The people behind the doorway leave him hanging from the Tree of Life. Rand resuscitates Mat after leaving his ter'angreal. They make their way out of Rhuidean, overcoming another "bubble of evil" on the way. Thom watched with Mat as Teslyn, Joline, and Edesina left for the White Tower. He then rode with Mat into Caemlyn to meet with Queen Elayne. After a pleasant greeting with her, Elayne offered him a proclamation to become a proper court bard of Caemlyn. He promised to think about it. Perrin leads the Two rivers in multiple battles against the Trollocs and the myrrdral as they try and take the Two Rivers. This is where I believe most of the action is in this book apart from the events at the beginning and end with Rand.

Min continues to report to the Amyrlin and tries to avoid suspicion by taking the guise of Elmindreda, a giddy, empty-headed woman. She finds herself caught in a coup where Elaida and her supporters depose Siuan and Leane Sharif, her Keeper of the Chronicles, for secretly aiding Rand. Interestingly, Gil-galad is also the name of a legendary elven king in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series, and the word "galad" also means "light" in the fictional Elvish language Sindarin. I think what’s exciting about [the TV series] and what was exciting about [the books] in the 90s is that they opened up a conversation about gender and how gender is represented in all of these different cultures within the world of Wheel of Time,” showrunner Rafe Judkins told Gizmodo. “Because it’s not just one way you see a lot of different representations of gender, you see things that are more binary and less binary. I think that we have to lean into that in the show and continue to explore what gender means for these characters in as fresh of a context today as Robert Jordan was working in in the 90s. He was pushing the envelope a lot for the genre at the time and I think we need to do the same today.” Galad fares better than Gawyn, but still Demandred is too skilled for him. Despite taking a cut to the knee, the Forsaken wins when a slice to Galad's arm tears the muscle, leaving him unable to grip his sword. He strikes Galad's sword arm off at the elbow and strikes him down, roaring to the Dragon that he has beaten his brother, the man in white.Rand’s party arrives at Alcair Dal, but Couladin gets there first. He proclaims himself He Who Comes With the Dawn, showing the same dragon tattoos that Rand acquired in Rhuidean. Rand counters, showing his own dragons and revealing the secret of Rhuidean. The Aiel, divided by this devastating proclamation, begin to fight each other; Rand makes it rain to stop them. This is a strong book in one of fantasy’s most important series, I hope it continues to get better as the characters are slowly built upon. The Stone of Tear, invulnerable fortress of legend, has fallen. The Children of the Dragon have risen to the call of prophecy and march to the aid of the Light. Callandor, the Sword That Is Not a Sword, is held by Rand al'Thor, the man proclaimed as the Dragon Reborn.