Tigraine Mantear
Author: Atarah al'Norahn
tee-GRAINE MAHN-tee-ahr
General
Tigraine Mantear was once the Daughter-Heir of Andor. In the year 972 NE, when Gitara Moroso had a Foretelling that Tigraine must leave Andor and go to the Aiel Waste, she fled in the night, leaving her mother, the queen, with no heir. She was proclaimed dead (TWoRJTWoT; TSR, Ch. 34; LoC, Ch. 16).
Tigraine's mother was Queen Mordrellen, and her brother was Luc Mantear, who disappeared into the Blight (TWoRJTWoT; LoC, Ch. 16). She married Taringail Damodred of Cairhien for political reasons and had a son named Galadedrid (TWoRJTWoT). When Tigraine reached the Aiel Waste, she became a Maiden of the Spear and was adopted into the Chumai sept of the Taardad Aiel. She adopted the name "Shaiel", which means "the Woman Who Is Dedicated" in the Old Tongue. During the Aiel War, she had a second son, Rand, by Janduin, clan chief of the Taardad Aiel (TSR, Ch. 34).
Tigraine had golden hair (TSR, Ch. 34). Rand apparently looks very much like her (TDR, Ch. 39; LoC, Ch. 16).
Tigraine's sign was a woman's hand gripping a thorny rose-stem with a white blossom (TEotW, Glossary).
Timeline
- Tigraine marries Taringail Damodred to form an alliance with Cairhien. They have a son named Galadedrid (TWoRJTWoT).
- Gitara Moroso has a Foretelling that Tigraine must go to the Aiel Waste or disaster will befall her people, and perhaps the world (TSR, Ch. 34).
- Tigraine goes to the Aiel Waste and is found by a group of Maidens of the Spear. They follow her as she goes deeper into the Aiel Waste. After her horses die, her food runs out, and she collapses, they offer her water and ask her about her story (TSR, Ch. 34).
- Tigraine, now known as Shaiel, works very hard at becoming a Maiden of the Spear, and gives her vows as a Maiden within a year. She is adopted into the Chumai sept of the Taardad Aiel (TSR, Ch. 34).
- When Laman cuts down Avendoraldera and the Aiel cross the Dragonwall, Tigraine/Shaiel goes with them (TSR, Ch. 34).
- In the third year of the Aiel War, Tigraine/Shaiel becomes pregnant by Janduin, clan chief of the Taardad Aiel. By the laws, she should have returned to the Aiel Waste, but she refused, and Janduin did not order her to go back (TSR, Ch. 34).
- Tigraine/Shaiel is lost during the last battle of the Aiel War. She gives birth to Rand upon Dragonmount and dies (TSR, Ch. 34).
Relationships
Tigraine's first marriage, to Taringail Damodred of Cairhien, was not a happy marriage. The marriage was a political alliance, meant to create peace between Andor and Cairhien, though the peace was only temporary. Apparently, it was well known that Taringail was a bad husband to Tigraine (TWoRJTWoT). Tigraine did not love him, and did not regret leaving him (TSR, Ch. 34).
Tigraine loved her first son, Galad, very much. Amys does not think she ever forgave herself for leaving him (TSR, Ch. 34).
Janduin, the father of Tigraine's second child, Rand, was very much in love with her. He could forbid her nothing, and would have tried to bring her the moon on a necklace had she asked for it. When she became pregnant with Rand, he could not order her to return to the Aiel Waste as the laws said he should, because she did not want to go. After she disappeared, he never forgave himself for letting her remain (TSR, Ch. 34).
Morgase was Tigraine's nearest female blood relation, which was part of the reason why Morgase won the Succession after Tigraine's disappearance and Mordrellen's death. They were cousins, but so distantly related that had they been commoners, they would not have been considered related at all (TWoRJTWoT; LoC, Ch. 26).
Rand wishes that he could have met Tigraine/Shaiel and Janduin, even if only once (TSR, Ch. 34).
Miscellaneous
Morgase married Taringail Damodred because it gave her a link to Tigraine and Mordrellen (TFoH, Ch. 19).
Rand looks like pictures that Elayne has seen of Tigraine, but she doesn't think that Tigraine is his mother (TDR, Ch. 39).
Gitara Moroso, Queen Mordrellen's Aes Sedai advisor, had a Foretelling about Tigraine. Tigraine was told that she must go to the Aiel Waste and become a Maiden of the Spear. She could not return to her own land until the Maidens went to Tar Valon (TSR, Ch. 34).
Gitara Moroso spent more time with Tigraine and Luc than she did with Mordrellen (LoC, Ch. 16).
House Mantear only lost the throne of Andor because when Queen Mordrellen died, Tigraine was nowhere to be found and there were no other female Mantear heirs (CoT, Ch. 11).
Quotes
"There's some saying she's still alive, you know, that Morgase isn't the rightful Queen. Bloody fools. I remember what happened. Remember like it was yesterday. No Daughter-Heir to take the throne when the old Queen died, and every House in Andor scheming and fighting for the right. And Taringail Damodred. You wouldn't have thought he'd lost his wife, him hot to figure out which House would win so he could marry again and become Prince Consort after all." (Almen Bunt to Rand and Mat; The Eye of the World, Chapter 34)
"Shaiel's story, as I know it, begins when I was still Far Dareis Mai, more than a year before I gave up the spear. A number of us had ranged almost to the Dragonwall together. One day we saw a woman, a golden-haired young wetlander, in silks, with packhorses and a fine mare to ride. A man we would have killed, of course, but she had no weapons beyond a simple knife at her belt. Some wanted to run her back to the Dragonwall naked..." Egwene blinked; she seemed continually surprised at how hard the Aiel were. Amys continued without a pause. "...yet she seemed to be searching determinedly for something. Curious, we followed, day by day, without letting her see. Her horses died, her food ran out, but she did not turn back. She stumbled on afoot, until finally she fell and could not rise. We decided to give her water, and ask her story. She was near death, and it was a full day before she could speak." (Amys to Rand; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 34)
"She spoke of a child abandoned, a son she loved. A husband she did not love. Where, she would not say. I do not think she ever forgave herself for leaving the child. She would tell little beyond what she had to. It was for us she had been searching, for Maidens of the Spear. An Aes Sedai called Gitara Moroso, who had the Foretelling, had told her that disaster would befall her land and her people, perhaps the world, unless she went to dwell among the Maidens of the Spear, telling no one of her going. She must become a Maiden, and she could not return to her own land until the Maidens had gone to Tar Valon." (Amys to Rand; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 34)
"Twenty-five years ago, more now, the Daughter-Heir of Andor vanished in the night. Her name was Tigraine. She left behind a husband, Taringail, and a son, Galad. I know it is only chance, yet I see Tigraine in your face. It was a shock." (Dyelin to Rand; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 16)