Difference between revisions of "Matrim Cauthon"

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''Atarah al'Norahn''
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==General==
 
==General==
  

Revision as of 15:23, 28 August 2006

Atarah al'Norahn

General

Matrim Cauthon was born in 978 NE, in Emond's Field, Andor, to Abell and Natti Cauthon. Other than his parents, his family consists of two younger sisters, Bodewhin and Eldrin.

Most women find him appealing, with a wiry body and brown hair and eyes. Dancing and flirting seem to be two of his favorite past times. He also has quite a bit of a gambling streak, and places dice often. Many people who see him gambling declare that he seems to have the Dark One's own luck. While in Emond's Field his luck was average; he lost as much as he won. After the incident at Shadar Logoth, his luck became rather good. After he was Healed by the Aes Sedai in the White Tower, it became extraordinary. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 30.)

Another major side to Mat is that of the prankster. In Emond's Field, he was well known for his escapades. Read about them here.

Mat's Journey

Mat's journey, like Rand and Perrin's, begins the day before Beltine when he sees a Fade and discusses it with Rand. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 1.) Later on the same day, he meets Moraine, the Aes Sedai who will take him and his friends away from Emond's Field. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 2.) That night, his house is one of the one's targeted when Trollocs attack Emond's Field. Luckily, he is not injured. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 7.) The next evening, Moiraine and her Warder, Lan, whisk Mat, Perrin, Rand and Egwene away from Emond's Field and towards a safer place. (Eye of the World, Chapter 10.)

After several days of traveling, Mat and company wind up in Baerlon, where they stay at an inn called the Stag and Lion. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 13.) His sleep that night is disturbed by dreams of Ba'alzamon, the Dark One, who is after the three boys for a reason that is unknown to them. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 14.)

A few incidents occur while the group is in Baerlon; Mat plays pranks on a group of Whitecloaks, shares his dream with Rand (who, incidentally, had the same dream) and Thom, and is, along with the others, shocked by Nynaeve's arrival in Baerlon. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 15; The Eye of the World, Chapter 16.) When a fade shows up in Baerlon, Mat and company flee, confronting the Whitecloaks in the process. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 17.)

Three days later, they are attacked by Trollocs. The entire group has to fight in order to get away. During the battle, Mat shouts a phrase in the Old Tongue without knowing it. "Carai an Caldazar! Carai an Ellisande! Al Ellisande!" ("For the honor of the Red Eagle. For the honor of the Rose of the Sun. The Rose of the Sun.") (The Eye of the World, Chapter 18.) They finally reach an abandoned city named Shadar Logoth. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 18.)

Mat, along with Rand and Perrin, leaves the camp in Shadar Logoth to go exploring. They meet a man named Mordeth who asks for their help before attempting to kill them. As they flee, Mat grabs a dagger with a large ruby on the hilt. When they return to the camp, they are told that Lan is out looking for them and scouting the city. When he returns, they learn that there are Trollocs in Shadar Logoth. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 19.)

The group decides to leave Shadar Logoth, but Mashadar, the evil mist of the city, is rising with the coming dark. They are all separated, but manage to get out of the city alive. Mat, Rand and Thom end up jumping aboard a boat named the Spray. The three of them are dropped off at Whitebridge. There, they encounter a Fade. Rand and Mat get away, while Thom stays to delay it.

Thinking that Thom is dead, Mat and Rand head off towards Caemlyn. Along the way, they meet a multitude of Darkfriends who wither try to kill or capture them. During the trip, Mat begins to act strangely; he is often dark and brooding. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 32; The Eye of the World, Chapter 33.)

Finally, Mat and Rand reach Caemlyn and proceed towards an inn named 'The Queen's Blessing,' the place that Thom had told them to go if the three of them got separated. Mat shuts himself away in his room and refuses to leave. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 35; The Eye of the World, Chapter 36.)

Mat is still in his room when Moiraine, Lan, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve finally arrive in Caemlyn. When Moiraine sees Mat, she is aghast. Although he tries to injure her with the ruby dagger when she touches him, she manages to partially Heal him, bringing him back to his usual self. The others are told that the reason Mat became sick was because the dagger is tainted. She was unable to Heal him enough so as to be able to take the dagger away from him; if he is separated from it before he is fully Healed at the Tower, he will die. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 41; The Eye of the World, Chapter 42.)

Moiraine decides that they all need to go to the Eye of the World. After speaking with Loial, the Ogier that Rand met in Caemlyn, she decides that they will use the Ways. Before leaving Caemlyn, Mat is once again plagued by dreams of Ba'alzamon. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 43.)

Mat and company proceed to travel through the Ways. Like everyone else, Mat is spooked out, especially when they are almost caught by Machin Shin. Never the less, they finally arrive in Fal Dara, Shienar. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 44; The Eye of the World, Chapter 45.) Their stay in Fal Dara is relatively short before they set off for the Blight, intent on finding the Eye of the World. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 48.) Finally, after an unpleasant trip through the Blight, they reach the Green Man's garden and are led to the Eye of the World. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 49.) There, the group is faced by two of the Forsaken, Aginor and Balthamel. After they are defeated, Mat, along with Loial, Lan and Perrin, enters the Eye of the World. There, they find the Dragon Banner, the Horn of Valere, and one of the seals to the Dark One's prison. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 50; The Eye of the World, Chapter 52.) After this long ordeal, Mat and the others go back to Fal Dara. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 53.)

Back in Fal Dara, a few things of consequence happen. Mat discovers that, since obtaining the ruby dagger and being partially Healed, his luck has significantly increased. Later, Padan Fain, now a known Darkfriend, steals the Horn of Valere and Mat's ruby dagger. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 3; The Great Hunt, Chapter 6.) Without the dagger, the Aes Sedai won't be able to fully Heal him of its taint. For this reason, the Amyrlin Seat asks if he will accompany the party that will go to find the two stolen items. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 7; The Great Hunt, Chapter 8.) When they leave, Perrin and Rand accompany them. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 9.)

The Hunt for the Horn is relatively uneventful until Mat and Perrin find Rand with the Dragon Banner, which Moiraine had put into his saddlebags. It is then that they learn that Rand is the Dragon Reborn. After this revelation, they both avoid him. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 11.) When Rand, Loial and Hurin are found missing the next morning, Mat and company continue on without them. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 14.) Eventually, they end up in the city of Cairhien, where they are reunited with Rand, Loial and Hurin. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 30.)

When Hurin discovers that the Horn of Valere is in Lord Barthanes' manor, Mat, Rand and some of the others attend a party there. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 21; The Great Hunt, Chapter 32.) The Horn of Valere, however, is no longer there. Believing that Padan Fain has gone to Falme, they try to go through a Waygate, but encounter Machin Shin. Gathering everyone together, they all head for Stedding Tsofu. They arrive and gain permission from the Ogier Elders to use the Stedding Tsofu Waygate, only to encounter Machin Shin again. (The Great Hunt; Chapter 33; The Great Hunt, Chapter 35; The Great Hunt, Chapter 36.) As a last resort, Rand takes them to Toman Head with the use of a Portal Stone. They arrive to find that four months have passed. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 37.)

Mat, along with Rand, Perrin, Hurin and Ingtar, goes into Falme with the intent of recovering the Horn of Valere and the ruby dagger. They find both items in the house of the Seanchan Lord Turak, whom Rand kills. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 45.) As they leave the city, they are caught between the Seanchan army and the Whitecloaks, with no escape. Mat blows the Horn of Valere, and the Heroes of the Horn ride to their rescue. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 47.)

Once everything is finally over, Mat heads to the White Tower to be Healed. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 49.) By the time Mat finally reaches the White Tower, he is very ill. It takes ten Aes Sedai and a powerful sa'angreal to Heal him. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 11; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 18.)

When Mat awakens, his is thin and weak. He receives visits from Lanfear in the guise of Selene, who attempts to get him to join her, and then from Siuan and Leane. They inform him that he will be staying at the Tower for quite awhile. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 19; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 20.)

Tired of being cooped up in his room, Mat goes out for a walk and ends up at the Warder practice field. There, he bets Gawyn and Galad that he can beat them both and wins. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 24.)

Later on, he is visited by Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve. They talk for a while and come to an agreement. They will give him one of the letters that Siuan gave them to get around easily if he will carry a letter to Morgase from Elayne. He agrees because it will get him out of Tar Valon. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 28.) He leaves the Tower and begins gambling at taverns in the city to make some money for his trip. He ends up making a fortune. After an attempt n his life by a gray man and Darkfriends, he runs into Thom at an inn named 'The Woman of Tanchico,' and convinces Thom to go to Caemlyn with him. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 30; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 31.)

Mat is able to secure passage on a ship using the Amyrlin's letter, but that night he is once again attacked by Darkfriends. They finally arrive safely in Aringill. They decide to stay in the stable of an inn named 'The Good Queen' for the night. There, they save Aludra, an Illuminator, from some men. In return, Aludra gifts Mat with fireworks. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 32; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 40.)

On the way to Caemlyn. Mat and Thom are once again attacked by Darkfriends. They kill them and continue on towards Caemlyn. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 44.) When they arrive, Mat attempts to deliver Elayne's letter, but the guards won't let him. Later, he remembers how Rand once got into the palace by climbing a wall. He decides to try it out and succeeds. On his way to Morgase, he hears a man telling someone to kill Elayne. After delivering Elayne's letter, he realizes that it was Morgase's lover, Lord Gaebril, and is glad that he didn't say anything. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 45; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 46.) Mat and Thom decide to go to Tear to rescue Elayne. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 47.) When they reach Tear, Mat uses his luck to find Comar, Gaebril's lackey. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 49.)

Because Thom gets sick, Mat takes him to a Wise Woman, Mother Guenna, who is able to tell them about Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve. Mat heads off for the Stone of Tear, where he meets Juilin and some of the Aiel. Using the fireworks that Aludra gave him, he blasts a hole in the wall, and Mat and Juilin start looking for the three girls. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 52; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 54.) They manage to free the girls; despite the fact that Mat and Juilin risked their lives among the Black Ajah, Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve do not thank them. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 55.)

The Stone of Tear is now secure, Mat is playing cards with some Tairen lords. Suddenly, his cards come to life and attack him. He manages to turn them all back into cards. After this, the Tairens all avoid him. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 2.)

Later, wanting to escape and not knowing what to do, he goes through the twisted red doorway ter'angreal that Egwene told him about. There, he meets the Aelfinn, who tell him four things. 1) If he doesn't go to Rhuidean, he will die. 2) He is destined to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons. 3) He will die and live again. 4) He will have to give up half the light of the world to save the world. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 15.)

When everyone is ready to leave for the Aiel Waste, Rand transports himself, Mat and the others using a Portal Stone. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 22.) When Rand requests of the Aiel Wise Ones to go to Rhuidean, Mat asks if he can accompany him, and the Wise Ones concede. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 23.)

In Rhuidean, Mat finds another twisted red doorway ter'angreal. Little does he know that the Eelfinn, unlike the Aelfinn, do not answer questions, but grant wishes. When they don't answer his questions, he angrily begins demanding things of them. He tells them that he wants the holes in his memory to be filled, that he wants to be free of Aes Sedai channeling, and that he wants to go back to Rhuidean. When Rand finds him, Mat is hanging from Avendesora with a spear bearing a curved blade and a foxhead medallion. He has also gained fluency in the Old Tongue. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 24; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 26.)

After returning from Rhuidean, Mat accompanies Rand and the Aiel to Imre Stand, and then to Cold Rocks Hold, participating in battles against Trollocs along the way. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 36; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 37; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 48; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 49; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 50.) He also accompanies Rand to Alcair Dal. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 57; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 58.)

Since Rhuidean is now open to everyone, Mat and the others, as well as the Aiel, have moved in. While Mat is out on the streets, he meets Melindhra, a Shaido Maiden of the Spear who has chosen to follow Rand. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 3.) Later, when they are in bed together, Dark hounds attack; however, no one is killed. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 6.)

They are soon on the move again. Mat accompanies Rand and the Aiel to Jangai Pass and the town of Taien, which has been destroyed. Later, when they are camped, they are attacked by Trollocs. Both Mat and Melindhra join the fight. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 20; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 21; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 22.)

After reaching Cairhien, Mat decides that he is going to leave Rand and the others. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 23; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 42.) When he goes to tell Rand, he ends up discussing battle plans with Lan. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 42.) However, despite his intentions to leave, the next day's planned battle against the Shaido prevents him from escaping. When he can't get away, he notices that the Shaido have set an unexpected trap. He goes to warn the Tairens and Cairhienin soldiers, and ends up leading them throughout the battle. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 43; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 44.) During said battle, Mat encounters Couladin, the leader of the Shaido, and kills him. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 45.) Talmanes and Nalesean, the Tairen and Cairhienin leaders of the soldiers that Mat led, end up swearing fealty to him. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 45.)

After returning to Cairhien, Mat learns that Melindhra is really a Darkfriend when she tries to kill him, but he ends up killing her instead. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 51.) The next morning, Mat is present when Lanfear attacks Rand, Egwene and Aviendha, but he is not injured. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 52.) Later, however, he is killed during Rand's attack on Rahvin in Caemlyn, but is brought back to life when Rand balefires the Rahvin. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 54; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 55.)

Some time later as Mat leads his newly found army, the Band of the Red Hand, towards Tear, there is another assassination attempt on his life, this time by a group of Aiel. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 22.) Later, Rand asks Mat to go to Salidar in order to find Elayne, who is now Queen of Andor as Morgase is presumed to be dead. Mat agrees, and Aviendha accompanies him. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 33.) When he arrives in Salidar with the Band of the Red Hand, he gets the shock of his life when he learns that Egwene is the rebel's Amyrlin. Several days later, he is enlisted to go to Ebou Dar with Elayne and Nynaeve. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 38; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 44.) During the trip to Ebou Dar, Mat is pestered by Elayne, Nynaeve, and Vandene and Adeleas, the two Aes Sedai who are accompanying them. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 47.)

Once in Ebou Dar, Mat opts not to stay in the palace, but randomly chooses an inn named 'The Wandering Woman.' Over the next little while, he spends his time attempting to keep track of Elayne and Nynaeve, wandering around the city, and going to festivals with Beslan, Queen Tylin's son. Tylin seems to be interested in him. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 52; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 14; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.) He is also attacked a couple more times, and meets Birgitte. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 17; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21.)

After a long wait, Mat finally gets his thanks from Nynaeve and Elayne for rescuing them in Tear. They then enlist his help in finding the Bowl of the Winds, and he moves into the Tarasin Palace with them. Unfortunately for Mat, this brings him into Tylin's path, and she claims him for her own. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 22; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 28; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29.)

Mat finally finds the hiding place of the Bowl of the Winds, and accompanies Nynaeve, Elayne, Aviendha, Birgitte, Lan and the Kin into the Rahad to get it. There, two Black Sisters and the gholam attack them. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 31; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 37; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 38.) All the women leave Ebou Dar with the Bowl of the Winds and Mat, Thom, Juilin and Olver are accidentally left behind when the Seanchan attack Ebou Dar. He is injured when a wall topples onto him. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 39.) He spends 'A Path of Daggers' recuperating.

While still in Ebou Dar, Mat meets Aludra the Illuminator again, and spends quite a bit of time with her. He is also attacked by the gholam again. It is then that he meets Noal Charin, an old man, who helps him. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 15; Winter's Heart, Chapter 16.) Upon returning to the Tarasin palace, he meets Tuon, though he does not know that she is the Daughter of the Nine Moons. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 17.)

By this time, Mat wants nothing more than to get away from Ebou Dar, Tylin and the Seanchan. With this in mind, he begins moving his belongings back to The Wandering Woman inn. On one of these trips, he gets himself into an even worse circumstance. Stetalle Anan, the owner, has been aiding Jolene Sedai so as not to let her be caught by the Seanchan. Mat ends up agreeing to help her get out of the city. Upon returning to the Tarasin Palace, Mat visits Teslyn Sedai in the damane quarters and adds both Teslyn and Edesina to the list of Aes Sedai escapees. Mat, Thom and Juilin begin to forming a plan, but are unable to get it to work without sul'dam. When Mat meets Egeanin and Bayle Domon, who want to hire the three men, their problems are solved. Egeanin pulls some strings to make the escape possible. (Winter's Heat, Chapter 18; Winter's Heart, Chapter 19; Winter's Heart, Chapter 29.)

The next night, the plan is put into action. Mat goes up to the damane kennels and ends up freeing one of the Seafolk Windfinders. When he returns to Tylin's room, he is surprised to find her there, as she was supposed to be away. He ends up, with her permission, tying her up and leaving her under the bed so that no one thinks that she helped him. As he reaches the stable yard, he runs into Tuon. It is then that he learns that she is the Daughter of the Nine Moons. Shocked, he says three times that she is his wife, not realizing that he has thus completed his half of the Seanchan marriage ceremony. They end up taking Tuon and Selucia, her maid, with them. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 30; Winter's Heart, Chapter 31.)

Once they are out of Ebou Dar, they take refuge in Valan Luca's circus. (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 1.) Over the next little while, as they travel towards Lugard, Murandy, Mat courts Tuon. At one point, Renna, one of the sul'dam, attempts to escape and Mat is forced to kill her. (Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 2; Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 3; Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 28; Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 29.)

Mat's Escapades

Most of his life, Mat has been a big prankster, playing all kinds of jokes and often dragging Rand along with him. Mat's mother used to tell him that the Forsaken would come for him if he didn't mend his ways. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 1.)

When Mat and Rand are ten years old, Cenn Buie caught them in his apple trees. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 3.)

Once, when Mat was ten years old, he tried to cut a firework open to see what was inside, causing an uproar; Bran al'Vere cuffed him, Doral Barran, the then Wisdom had switched him and his father strapped him. For a month, no one in Emond's Field would talk to him with the exception of Rand and Perrin. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 40.)

Soon after turning thirteen, Mat talked Rand into stealing a jar of apple brandy. Nynaeve found them asleep at Bran al'Vere's table. Their heads were hurting so badly that they didn't even feel the switches she gave them. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 7.)

On the day before Bel Tine, Mat covered two of Harral Luhhan's dogs with flour. Having told Adan al'Caar, Ewin Finngar and Dag Coplin that some farms had seen ghost hounds, he set them loose near Dag's house, but they ran straight home. Mistress Luhhan had left her door open, so they ran inside and got flour all over the house. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 2.)

On the day before Bel Tine, Mat and Dav caught a badger and planned to let it loose on the Green so that they could watch the girls run. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 1.)

Viewings and Dreams

"And the other one ... a red eagle, an eye on a balance scale, a dagger with a ruby, a horn, and a laughing face." (Min's viewing of Mat; The Eye of the World, Chapter 15.)

"You know I've read you, Egwene. I don't understand most of it - I almost never do - but I see things I am sure link you to Rand, and Perrin, and Mat, and - yes, even Galad, the light help you for a fool. How can any of that happen if the Seanchan take you off across the ocean?" (Min to Egwene; The Great Hunt, Chapter 42.)

"Mat, placing his own left eye on a balance scale. Mat, hanging by his neck from a tree limb. There had been a dream of Mat and Seanchan, too, but she was willing to dismiss that as a nightmare. It had to have been just a nightmare. Just like the one about Mat speaking the Old Tongue. That had to come from what she had heard during his Healing." (Egwene's Dream; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 25.)

"There had been dreams of Mat, too. Of Mat with dice spinning 'round him - she felt she knew where that one came from - of Mat being followed by a man who was not there - she still did not understand that; there was a man following, or maybe more than one, but in some way there was no one there - of Mat riding desperately toward something unseen in the distance that he had to reach, and Mat with a woman who seemed to be tossing fireworks about. An Illuminator, she assumed, but that made no more sense than anything else." (Egwene's dream; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 37.)

"Mat, rattling a dice cup. His opponent stared at Mat with eyes of fire. Mat did not seem to see the man, but Perrin knew him." (Perrin's Dream; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 43.)

"What did it mean that Mat was dicing with the Dark One, and why did he keep shouting, "I am coming!" and why did she think in the dream that he was shouting at her?" (Egwene's dream; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 48.)

"Mat wrestling with a Seanchan woman who tied an invisible leash to him." (Egwene's dream; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 11.)

"Mat, standing where a road forked ahead of him. He flipped a coin, started down one branch, and suddenly was wearing a wide brimmed hat and walking with a staff bearing a short sword blade." (Perrin's Dream; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 28.)

"Mat stood naked and bound, snarling; an odd spear with a black shaft had been thrust across his back behind his elbows, and a silver medallion, a foxhead, hung on his chest." (Perrin's dream; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 53.)

"Mat throwing dice with blood streaming down his face, the wide brim of his hat pulled low so she could not see his wound, while Thom Merrilin put his hand into a fire to draw out the small blue stone that now dangled on Moiraine's forehead." (Egwene's Dream; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 15.)

"Mat spoke strange words she almost understood ... the Old Tongue, she thought ... and two ravens alighted on his shoulders, claws sinking through his coat into the flesh beneath. He seemed no more aware of them than Perrin had been of the hawk and falcon, yet defiance passed across his face, and then grim acceptance. In another a woman, face shrouded in shadow, beckoned him toward great danger; Egwene did not know what, only that it was monstrous." (Egwene's Dream; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 15.)

"Mat sat on a night-shrouded hilltop, watching a grand Illuminator's display of fireworks, and suddenly his hand shot up, seized one of those bursting lights in the sky. Arrows of fire flashed from his clenched fist, and a sense of dread filled her. Men would die because of this. The world would change. But the world was changing; it always changed." (Egwene's Dream; A Crown of Swords, Chapter 10.)

"Mat, weighing two Aes Sedai on a huge set of balance scales, and on his decision depended….She could not say what; something vast; the world, perhaps. There had been other dreams, most tinged with suffering. Recently, all of her dreams about Mat were pale and full of pain, like shadows cast by nightmares, almost as though Mat himself were not quite real. That made her afraid for him, left behind in Ebou Dar, and gave her agonies of grief for sending him there, not to mention poor old Thom Merrilin." (Egwene's Dream; The Path of Daggers, Chapter 15.)

"Mat stood on a village green, playing at bowls. The thatch-roofed houses were vague, in the manner of dreams - sometimes the roofs were slate; sometimes the houses seemed of stone, sometimes wood - but he was sharp and clear, dressed in a fine green coat and that wide-brimmed hat, just as he had been the day he rode into Salidar. There was not another human being in sight. Rubbing the ball between his hands, he took a short run and casually rolled it across the smooth grass. All nine pins fell, scattered as if they had been kicked. Mat turned and picked up another ball, and the pins were back upright. No, there was a fresh set of pins. The old still lay where they had fallen. He hurled the ball again, a lazy underhanded bowl. And Egwene wanted to scream. The pins were not turned pieces of wood. Thy were men, standing there watching the ball roll toward them. None moved until the ball sent them flying. Mat turned to pick up another ball, and there were more new pins, new men, standing in orderly formation among the men lying sprawled on the ground as if dead. No, they were dead. Unconcerned, Mat bowled." (Egwene's dream; Crossroads of Twilight, Chapter 20.)

Mat's Memories

~NOTE~ I have done my best to collect all of Mat's memories, though some may be missing. I have included excerpts from the books that deal with his memories.

"Soft, the winds, like springtime's fingers. Soft, the rains, like heaven's tears. Soft, the years roll by in gladness, never hinting storms to come, never hinting whirlwinds' ravage, rain of steel and battle thunder, war to tear the heart asunder."

It was "Midean's Ford." An old song; of Manetheren, oddly enough, and war before the Trolloc Wars. Natael did a fair job of it; nothing like Thom's sonorous recitals, of course, but the rolling words drew a crowd of Aiel thick around the edge of the fire's light. Villainous Aedomon led the Saferi down on unsuspecting Manetheren, pillaging and burning, driving all before them until King Buiryn gathered Manetheren's strength, and the men of Manetheren met the Saferi at Midean's Ford, holding, though heavily outnumbered, through three days of unrelenting battle, while the river ran red and vultures blacked the sky. On the third day, numbers dwindling, hope fading, Buiryn and his men fought their way across the ford in a desperate sortie, driving deep into Aedomon's horde, seeking to turn the enemy back by killing Aedomon himself. But forces too great to overpower swept in around them, trapping them, driving them ever in on themselves. Surrounding their king and the Red Eagle banner, they fought on, refusing surrender even when their doom became clear.

Natael sang how their courage touched even Aedomon's heart, and how at last he allowed the remnant to go free, turning his army back to Safer in honor of them.

"Back across the blood-red water, marching back with heads held high. No surrender, arm or sword, no surrender, heart or soul. Honor be theirs, ever after, honor all the Age shall know."

He plucked the final chord, and the Aiel whistled their approval, drumming spears on their hide bucklers, some raising ululating cries.

It had not been that way, of course. Mat could remember ... Light, I don't want to! But it came anyway ... he remembered counseling Buiryn not to accept the offer, being told in return that the smallest chance was better than none. Aedomon, glossy black beard hanging below the steel mesh that veiled his face, drew his spearmen back, waited until they were strung out and nearly to the ford before the hidden archers rose and the cavalry charged in. As for turning back to Safer.... Mat did not think so. His last memory at the ford was trying to keep his feet, waist-deep in the river with three arrows in him, but there was something later, a fragment. Seeing Aedomon, gray-bearded now, go down in a sharp fight in a forest, toppling from his rearing horse, the spear in his back put there by an unarmored, beardless boy. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 37.)

"Fool Shaido," Aviendha muttered at his back. Maybe she was right; maybe the amusement was for her riding. But Rand did not think so.

Mat galloped up trailing a cloud of yellowish brown dust, hat pulled low and spear resting upright on his stirrup iron like a lance. "What is this place, Rand?" he asked loudly, to be heard over the shouts. "All those women would say was 'Move faster. Move faster.' " Rand told him, and he frowned at the towering rock face of the butte. "You could hold that thing for years, I suppose, with supplies, but it isn't a patch on the Stone, or the Tora Harad."

"The Tora what?" Rand said. .

Mat rolled his shoulders before answering. "Just something I heard of, once." He stood in his stirrups to peer back over the heads of the Jindo toward the peddlers' train. "At least they're still with us. I wonder how long before they finish trading and go." (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 49.)


Grunting, he closed his eyes again. Cute? Light! And short. Only Aiel could call him short. In every other land he had been in, he was taller than most men, if not always by much. He could remember being tall. Taller than Rand, when he rode against Artur Hawkwing. And a hand shorter than he was now when he fought beside Maecine against the Aelgari. He had spoken to Lan, claiming he had overheard some names; the Warder said Maecine had been a king of Eharon, one of the Ten Nations ... that much Mat already knew ... some four or five hundred years before the Trolloc Wars. Lan doubted that even the Brown Ajah knew more; much had been lost in the Trolloc Wars, and more in the War of the Hundred Years. Those were the earliest and latest of the memories that had been planted in his skull. Nothing after Artur Paendrag Tanreall, and nothing before Maecine of Eharon. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 22.)

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Mat sat down heavily on the coping. The memories that had once cluttered his head like raisins in a cake now blended with his own. In one part of his mind he knew he had been born in the Two Rivers twenty years before, but he could remember clearly leading the flanking attack that turned the Trollocs at Maighande, and dancing in the court of Tarmandewin, and a hundred other things, a thousand. Mostly battles. He remembered dying more times than he wanted to think of. No seams between lives anymore; he could not tell his memories from the others unless he concentrated. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 3.)

Frowning, he squatted with his elbows on his knees. Lan got down with him, but he hardly noticed. A dicey problem. And fascinating. "Best if you try to shove him away. Hit him from the south, mainly." He pointed to the River Gaelin; it joined the Alguenya some miles north of the city. "There are bridges up here. Leave the Shaido a clear path to them. Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he's nothing to lose." His finger slid east. Wooded hills for the most part, it seemed. Probably not much different from right around here. "A blocking force here on this side of the river will make sure they go for the bridges, if it's big enough and positioned right. Once they are moving, Couladin won't want to try fighting someone ahead of him while you're coming behind." Yes. Almost exactly the same as at Jenje. "Not unless he's a complete fool, anyway. They might make it to the river in good order, but those bridges will choke them. I don't see Aiel swimming, or hunting out fords for that matter. Keep the pressure on, shove them across. With luck you'll be able to harry them all the way to the mountains." It was like Cuaindaigh Fords, too, late in the Trolloc Wars, and on much the same scale. Not much different from the Tora Shan, either. Or Sulmein Gap, before Hawkwing found his stride. The names flickered through his head, the images of bloody fields forgotten even by historians. Absorbed in the map as he was, they did not register as anything but his own remembrances. "Too bad you don't have more cavalry. Light cavalry is best for the harrying. Bite at the flanks, keep them running, and never let them settle to fight. But Aiel should do almost as well." (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 42.)


The stormy meeting with Rand had gone on till the sun set, him dodging, refusing, Rand following as doggedly as Hawkwing after the rout at Cole Pass. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 51.)


The music caught him up, missed notes and all, and the pattern dance, and memories floated in his head as they floated back and forth across the floor. In memory he was a head taller, with long golden mustaches and blue eyes. He wore a red-sashed coat of amber silk with a ruff of finest Barsine lace and yellow sapphire studs from Aramaelle on his chest, and he danced with a darkly beautiful emissary of the Atha'an Miere, the Sea Folk. The fine gold chain linking her nose ring to one of her multitude of earrings held tiny medallions that identified her as Wavemistress of Clan Shodin. He did not care how powerful she was; that was for the king to worry over, not a middling lord. She was beautiful and light in his arms, and they danced beneath the great crystal dome at the court of Shaemal, when all the world envied Coremanda's splendor and might. Other memories flitted around the edges, sparking off bits of that remembered dance. The morrow would bring news of increasingly heavy Trolloc raids out of the Great Blight, and another month word that Barsine of the golden spires had been ravaged and burned and the Trolloc hordes were sweeping south. So would begin what later would be called the Trolloc Wars, though none gave it that name to begin, three hundred years and more of all but unbroken battle, blood, fire and ruin before the Trollocs were driven back, the Dreadlords hunted down. So would begin the fall of Coremanda, with all its wealth and power, and Essenia, with its philosophers and famed seats of learning, of Manetheren and Eharon and all of the Ten Nations, smashed even in victory to rubble from which other lands would rise, lands that barely remembered the Ten Nations as more than myths of a happier time. But that lay ahead, and he banished those memories in the pleasure of this one. Tonight he danced the pattern dance with...

He blinked, for an instant startled by sunlight streaming through the windows and the fair face beaming up at him through a sheen of perspiration. Very nearly he fumbled the complex interweaving of his feet with Betse's as they whirled down the floor, but he caught himself before tripping her, the steps coming instinctively. This dance was his as surely as those memories were, borrowed or stolen, but so seamlessly woven into those he really had lived that he could no longer tell the difference without thinking. All his, now, filling holes in his own memories; he might as well have lived them all. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 5.)


Tylin Quintara, by the Grace of the Light, Queen of Altara, Mistress of the Four Winds, Guardian of the Sea of Storms, High Seat of House Mitsobar, awaited him in a room with yellow walls and a pale blue ceiling, standing before a huge white fireplace with a stone lintel carved into a stormy sea. She was well worth seeing, he decided. Tylin was not young ... the shiny black hair cascading over her shoulders had gray at the temples, and faint lines webbed the corners of her eyes ... nor was she exactly pretty, though the two thin scars on her cheeks had nearly vanished with age. Handsome came closer. But she was... imposing. Large dark eyes regarded him majestically, an eagle's eyes. She had little real power ... a man could ride beyond her writ in two or three days and still have a lot of Altara ahead ... but he thought she might make even an Aes Sedai step back. Like Isebele of Dal Calain, who had made the Amyrlin Anghara come to her. That was one of the old memories; Dal Calain had vanished in the Trolloc Wars. (A Crown of Swords Chapter 16.)


She met his gaze with a merry twinkle and a grin. "There's enough noise in the common room, we could talk without being overheard. Besides, I wouldn't mind sitting and looking a bit. Elayne preaches like a Tovan councilor if I ogle a man for longer than a heartbeat."

He nodded before he thought. Other men's memories told him Tovans were a stark and disapproving people, abstemious to the point of pain; at least they had been, a thousand years gone and more. He was not sure whether to laugh or groan. On the one hand, a chance to talk with Birgitte ... Birgitte! he doubted he would ever get over the shock ... but on the other, he doubted he would be able to hear the music downstairs for the noise of those dice rattling in his skull. She must be a key to it, somehow. A man with any brains would climb out the window right now. "A pitcher or two sounds fine to me," he told her. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21.)


"I don't bloody care about your bargains with anybody else, you daughter of the sands," Mat snapped. So his irritation was not that well under control. A man could only take so much.

Gasps rose among the women behind her. Something over a thousand years ago a Sea Folk woman had called an Essenian soldier a son of the sands just before trying to plant a blade in his ribs; the memory lay tucked inside Mat Cauthon's head, now. It was not the worst insult among the Atha'an Miere, but it came close. Renaile's face gorged with blood; hissing, eyes bulging in fury, she leaped to her feet, that moonstone-studded dagger flashing in her fist. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 39.)


He went, muttering to himself. Just like an Aes Sedai. Offer to help her, and the next thing you knew, she had you scaling a sheer cliff in the middle of the night to break fifty people out of a dungeon by yourself. That had been another man, a long time dead, but he remembered it, and it fit. (Mat thinking about Teslyn.) (Winter's Heart, Chapter 19.)


Setting out in search of either [Thom and Juilin] he unconsciously began humming "I'm Down at the Bottom of the Well." Well, he was, and night was falling and the rain well and truly coming down. As often happened, another name drifted up out of those old memories, a song of the Court of Takedo in Farashelle, crushed a thousand years ago and more by Artur Hawkwing. The intervening years had made remarkably little change in the tune itself, though. Then, it had been called "The Last Stand of Mandenhar." Either way, it fit too bloody well. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 19.)


"And if I asked you to wait for three hours?" he asked, still crouching over her. "I remember the Atha'an Miere judging the passage of an hour within minutes." That fellow had not been him, but the memory was his now, passage on an Atha'an Miere vessel from Allorallen to Barashta, and a bright-eyed Sea Folk woman who wept when she refused to follow him ashore. (Mat to Nestelle din Sakura South Star) (Winter's Heart, Chapter 31.)


The Dice

~NOTE~ As with 'Mat's Memories', I have done as much research on this section as I could. Once again, there are most likely a few things missing. Here are a bunch of excerpts from sections of the book where the dice warn Mat of an upcoming event. They are numbered to help separate them.

1.

"He had no idea why he had not simply ignored them. Except that his step was lighter and he felt full of vinegar. No wonder, really, leaving tomorrow at last. The dice seemed to be spinning in his head, and there was no knowing what pips would show when they landed. Odd, that. It must be Melindhra worrying him. Yes. He would definitely leave early, and as quietly as a mouse tiptoeing on feathers" (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 42).


"That should bring the Shaido in right enough, especially if Couladin was leading. If Couladin really was leading, if he thought Rand was with the pikes, if the pikes could hold until the horse arrived... A lot of ifs. Mat could hear those dice rolling in his head again. This was the biggest gamble he had ever taken in his life. He wondered how long it was until nightfall; a man should be able to make his way out in the night. He wished those dice would get out of his head, or else fall so he knew what they showed. Scowling into the rain, he booted Pips on down the hillside." (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 44).


Reducing the platform by one outer ring of square stones, he turned. Bael was waiting out there in what seemed a huge square doorway into daylight with the steps beyond. At his side, Pevin looked no more perturbed by what he saw than the Aiel chief, which was to say not at all. Pevin would carry that banner wherever Rand went, even the Pit of Doom, and never blink. Mat shoved back his hat to scratch his head, then jerked it low again, muttering something about dice in his head. (On the way to face Rahvin; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 54).

2.

"The largest palace he had seen yet filled one entire side of the square, all domes and spires and colonnades three and four stories above the ground. The other three sides mixed great houses with inns and shops, each as white as the next. A statue of a woman in flowing robes, taller than an Ogier, stood on an even taller pedestal in the middle of the square, one arm raised to point south toward the sea. There were only a handful of people walking across the pale paving stones, and no wonder in that heat. A few were eating their midday meal on the lowest step of the pedestal, and pigeons and seagulls flocked about fighting for scraps. It was a picture of tranquility. Mat did not understand why he suddenly felt the dice rolling in his head." (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 47).


The stately innkeeper introduced herself as Setalle Anan, though her hazel eyes had never been born in Ebou Dar. "Good my Lords... " Large gold hoops in her ears swayed as she bowed her head equally to Mat and Nalesean. "... may The Wandering Woman offer you her humble accommodation?"

She was pretty despite a touch of gray in her hair, but Mat watched her eyes. She wore a marriage knife hanging from a close-fitting necklace, the hilt set with red and white stones nestling in her generous cleavage, and she also had one of those curving knives in her belt. Still, he could not help grinning. "Mistress Anan, I feel like I've come home."

The odd thing was, the dice had stopped rolling in his head (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 47).

3.

"Thank you ... " Mat gave a start. The fellow was gone, swallowed up in the crowd. Strange, but he had looked familiar. Maybe another long-dead acquaintance drifting out of those old memories. Maybe... It hit him like an Illuminator's nightflower exploding inside his head. A white-haired man with a hooked nose. That old man had been at the Silver Circuit, standing not far from the woman who had just gone into Carridin's rented palace. Turning his hat in his hands, he frowned uneasily at the palace. The Mire never held a bog like this one. He could feel the dice tumbling in his head suddenly, and that was always a bad sign. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 14.)


Normally, displays of wealth made Mat feel comfortable. For one thing, where there was money, some might stick to his fingers. This time he felt impatient, more so by the step. And anxious. The last time he had felt the dice rolling so hard in his head was just before he found himself with three hundred of the Band, a thousand of Gaebril's White Lions on a ridge to his front and another thousand coming hard up the road behind him, when all he had been trying to do was ride away from the entire mess. That time he had avoided the chop by the grace of other men's memories and more luck than he had a right to. The dice almost always meant danger, and something else he had not figured out yet. The prospect of having his skull cracked was not enough, and once or twice there had been no possibility of such, yet the upcoming likelihood of Mat Cauthon dead in some spectacular fashion seemed the most usual cause. Unlikely, maybe, in the Tarasin Palace, but unlikely did not make the dice go away. He was going to leave his message, grab Nynaeve and Elayne by the scruff of the neck if he had an opportunity, give them a talking-to that made their ears glow, and then get out. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.)


Mat wanted to back away; even Teslyn stood close enough to be almost touching him. Instead he put on his most insolent grin. It had always landed him in trouble back home, but it seemed appropriate. Those dice in his head could have nothing to do with this pair, or they would have stopped spinning. And he did have the medallion. "They see pretty well, I'd say." Nynaeve badly needed to be snatched down a peg or six, and Elayne even more, but he was not about to stand by and listen to this woman talk Nynaeve down. If that meant defending Elayne too, so be it "Maybe you should abandon your nonsense." Joline's smile vanished, but Teslyn replaced it with one of her own, a razored smile. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.)


"Majesty," he said, sweeping his hat wide in a bow and flourishing an imaginary cloak, "by your summons do I come." Imposing or not, it was hard to keep his eyes away from the not small lace-trimmed oval where her white-sheathed marriage-knife hung. A very nicely rounded sight indeed, yet the more bosom a woman displayed, the less she wanted you to look. Openly, at least. White-sheathed; but he already knew she was a widow. Not that it mattered. He would as soon tangle himself with that fox-faced Darkfriend as with a queen. Not looking at all was difficult, but he managed. Most likely she would call guards rather than draw the gem-encrusted dagger thrust behind a woven-gold belt to match the collar her marriage knife hung from. Maybe that was why the dice were still rolling in his head. The possibility of an encounter with the headsman would set them spinning if anything did. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.)


Tall triple-arched windows opening onto a wrought-iron balcony admitted a sea breeze that was surprisingly pleasant, if not exactly cool, yet Mat felt hotter than in the street, and it had nothing to do with her stare. Deyeniye, dyu ninte concion ca'lyet ye. That was what he had said. The bloody Old Tongue popping out of his mouth again without him knowing it. He had thought he had that little bother under control. No telling when those bloody dice would stop or for what. Best to keep his eyes to himself and his mouth shut as much as possible. "I thank you, Majesty." He made very sure of those words. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.)


"You are Lord Mat Cauthon?" There was just a hint of question in the title. Her eyes minded him more than ever of an eagle's. A queen could not like someone coming to her pretending to be a lord.

"Just Mat Cauthon." Something told him she would hear a lie. Besides, letting people think he was a lord was just a ruse, one he would rather have managed without. In Ebou Dar you could find a duel any time you turned around, but few challenged lords except other lords. As it was, in the last month he had cracked a number of heads, bloodied four men and run half a mile to escape a woman. Tylin's stare made him nervous. And those dice still rattled about in his skull. He wanted out of there. "If you'll tell me where to leave the letter, Majesty...?" (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 16.)


She nodded calmly, hazel eyes serene. Men knifed in her inn did not ruffle her feathers. "They insisted on carrying it up themselves. Their stock, so they claimed. They took the room just before you came in. For a few hours, they said, to sleep before traveling on toward Nor Chasen." That was a small village on the coast to the east, but it was unlikely they would have told the truth. Her tone implied as much. She frowned at the dead men as though wishing she could shake them alive to answer questions. "They were picky about the room, though. The pale-haired man was in charge. He turned down the first three he was offered, then accepted this, that was meant for a single servant. I thought he was being stingy with a coin."

"Even a thief can be tightfisted," Mat said absently. This could have qualified to start those dice rolling in his head ... a head that would have been cracked open for sure without the luck of that fellow stepping on the one board in the whole inn that would squeak ... but the bloody things were still tumbling. He did not like it. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 17.)


Mat frowned after her. A gilded woman? In his room? The chest of gold rested now in a small hollow beneath the kitchen floor, in front of one of the stoves, but the dice in his head drummed like thunder suddenly. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21.)


He nodded before he thought Other men's memories told him Tovans were a stark and disapproving people, abstemious to the point of pain; at least they had been, a thousand years gone and more. He was not sure whether to laugh or groan. On the one hand, a chance to talk with Birgitte ... Birgitte! he doubted he would ever get over the shock ... but on the other, he doubted he would be able to hear the music downstairs for the noise of those dice rattling in his skull. She must be a key to it, somehow. A man with any brains would climb out the window right now. "A pitcher or two sounds fine to me," he told her. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21.)


"I won't shout at you," Nynaeve shouted. "And all the rest, too. I promise, you... you...!" She gobbled on the edge of swallowing her tongue as she realized she could not call him one of the names he warranted without breaking the promise already. And yet, the effect of her shout was most gratifying.

With a cry, he shuddered and dropped the cloth, clutched his head with both hands. His eyes bulged. "Flaming dice," he whimpered, or something very like. It suddenly struck Elayne that he would be a very good source of pithy language. Stablemen and the like always seemed to scrape their tongues clean the moment they saw her. Of course, she had promised herself to civilize him, to make him useful to Rand, but that need not interfere too much with his language. In fact, she realized there was a good deal she had not promised not to do. Pointing that out should settle Nynaeve considerably. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 21.)


Mat knew he was in trouble from the day he moved into the Tarasin Palace. He could have refused. Just because the flaming dice started or stopped did not mean he had to do anything; usually when they stopped spinning, it was too late not to do something. The problem was, he wanted to know why. Before very many days, he wished he had taken his curiosity by the throat and throttled it. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 28.)

4.

Nobody slipped a note under his door that night. Nobody rattled the lock. He began to think things might turn for the better. Tomorrow was the Festival of Birds. From what he had heard of the costumes some people wore, men and women both, it might be possible Tylin would find herself a new duckling to chase after. Somebody might come out of that bloody house across from the Rose of the Eldar and hand him the bloody Bowl of the Winds. Things just had to turn for the better.

When he woke for his third morning in the Tarasin Palace, the dice were rolling in his head. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 28.)


Waking to the dice, Mat considered going back to sleep until they went away, but at last he got up feeling grumpy. As if he did not have more than enough on his plate already. He chased Nerim away and dressed himself, eating the last of the bread and cheese from the night before while he did, then went to check on Olver. The boy flashed between bursts of yanking on his clothes in a hurry to be out and stopping entirely with boot or shirt in hand to spout dozens of questions that Mat answered with half a mind. No, they would not go racing today, and never mind the rich races at the Circuit of Heaven, north of the city. Maybe they could go see the menagerie. Yes, Mat would buy him a feathered mask for the festival. If he ever got dressed. That sent him into a flurry.

What really occupied Mat's thoughts were those bloody dice. Why had they started up again? He still did not know why they had before! (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29.)


It was too much. The woman hounded him, tried to starve him; now she locked them in together like... like he did not know what. Lambkin! Those bloody dice were bouncing around in his skull. Besides, he had important business to see to. The dice had never had anything to do with finding something, but... He reached her in two long strides, seized her arm, and began fumbling in her belt for the keys. "I don't have bloody time for ... " His breath froze as the sharp point of her dagger beneath his chin shut his mouth and drove him right up onto his toes. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29.)


"If I'm not back by tomorrow," Mat shouted back absently over his shoulder, "tell them they'll have to find it for themselves!" He walked on after the woman in a daze, not hearing if Nalesean or Beslan shouted again. The man knew! He remembered once thinking that Beslan and his mother were both mad. They were worse! All of Ebou Dar was mad! He was hardly aware of the dice still spinning inside his skull. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 29.)


Snatching off his hat, Mat considered throwing it down and jumping on it. Women! He should have known better than to expect sympathy. He would like to throttle the bloody Daughter-Heir. And Nynaeve, too, on general principle. Except, of course, that he could not. He had made promises. And those dice were still using his skull for a dice cup. And one of the Forsaken might be around somewhere. Settling the hat squarely back on his head, he marched down the landing, brushed past the Wise Women and caught up to Elayne. She was still trying to fight down giggles, but every time she cut her eyes his way, the color in her cheeks renewed itself and so did the giggles. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 38.)


Her tone was so mild that Elayne must have passed on the truth about Tylin, but if anything, that only soured his mood further. He did not want anyone to know. Bloody useless! But those dice were still rattling around in his head. "Maybe Moghedien likes back doors," he said dryly. Something cluttered in the dark end of the hall, and one of the men with Harnan cursed loudly about rats. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 38.)


"We are bloody well getting out of here now," Mat said again later, and this time there was argument. There had been argument for the past half-hour, near enough. Outside, the sun was past its noon peak. The trade winds cut the heat a little; stiff yellow curtains fastened over the tall windows bulged and snapped at gusts. Three hours back in the Tarasin Palace, the dice still bouncing in his head, and he wanted to kick something. Or somebody. He tugged at the scarf tied around his neck; it felt as though the rope that had given him the scar under that scarf was back and tightening slowly. "Love of the Light, are you all blind? Or just deaf?" (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 39.)


The sul'dam apparently was not satisfied. The foxhead went cool again, and from behind another roar hammered him to the pavement, pavement that jumped up to meet him. Through the ringing in his ears, he heard masonry groan. Above him, the white-plastered brick wall began leaning outward.

"What happened to my bloody luck?" he shouted. He had time for that. And just time to realize, as brick and timbers crashed down on him, that the dice in his head had just stopped dead. (A Crown of Swords, Chapter 39.)

5.

Mat groaned. It was not his leg, this time, or the fact that every man in Ebou Dar seemed to be choosing the bosom they rested their heads on except for Mat Cauthon. Those bloody dice had just started tumbling in his head again. Something bad was coming his way. Something very bad. (Winters Heart, Chapter 15.)


"I think I can do better for you than that," Mat told him, but the rest of what he had been going to say died on his tongue. The dice were still spinning in his head, he realized. He had managed to forget them with the gholam trying to kill him, but they were still bouncing, still waiting to land. If they were warning of something worse than the gholam, he did not want to know. Only, he would. There was no doubt of that. He would, when it was too late. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 16.)


Light, he wished those bloody dice in his head would just stop and get it over with! No, that was a lie. Since he had finally realized what they meant, he had never wanted the dice to stop. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 17.)


Flinging open the doors of Tylin's apartments, Mat strode in, sailed his hat across the width of the room…and stopped dead, his mouth hanging open and everything he had planned to say frozen on his tongue. His hat hit the carpets and rolled, he did not see where. A gust of wind rattled the tall triple-arched windows that led out onto a long, screened balcony overlooking the Mol Hara.

Tylin turned in a chair carved to look like gilded bamboo and stared at him over her golden wine cup. Waves of glossy black hair touched with gray at the temples framed a beautiful face with the eyes of a bird of prey, and not one best pleased at the moment. Inconsequential things seemed to leap at him. She kicked her crossed leg slightly, rippling layered green and white petticoats. Pale green lace trimmed the oval opening in her gown that half exposed her full breasts, where the jeweled hilt of her marriage knife dangled. She was not alone. Suroth sat facing her, frowning into her winecup and tapping long fingernails on the arm of her chair, a pretty enough woman despite her hair being shaved to that long crest, except that she made Tylin seem a rabbit by comparison. Two of those fingernails on each hand were lacquered blue. Seated at her side was a little girl, of all things, also in an elaborately flowered robe over pleated white skirts, but with a sheer veil covering her entire head - it seemed to be shaved completely! - and wearing a fortune in rubies. Even in a state of shock, he noticed rubies and gold. A slender woman, nearly as dark as her stark black gown and tall even had she been Aiel, stood behind the girl's chair with her arms folded and ill-concealed impatience. Her wavy back hair was short, but not shaved at all, so she was neither of the Blood nor so'jhin. Imperiously beautiful, she put Tylin and Suroth both in the shade. He noticed beautiful women, too, even when he did feel hit in the head with a hammer.

It was not the presence of Suroth or the strangers that jerked him to a halt, though. The dice had stopped, landing with a thunder that made his skull ring. That had never happened before. He stood there waiting for one of the Forsaken to leap out of the flames in the marble fireplace, or the earth to swallow the palace beneath him.

"You aren't listening to me, pigeon," Tylin cooed in dangerous tones. "I said, take yourself down to the kitchens and have a pastry until I have time for you. Have a bath while you're about it." Her dark eyes glittered. "We will discuss your mud later."

In a daze, he ran it through again in his head. He had walked into the room, the dice had stopped, and…Nothing had happened. Nothing!

"This man has been set upon," the tiny, veiled figure said, rising. Her tone turned cold as the wind outside. "You told me the streets were safe, Suroth! I am displeased."

Something had to happen! It already should have! Something always happened when the dice stopped. (Winter's Heart, Chapter 17.)

Relationships with other Characters

The relationship between Mat and Rand starts off as that of best friends. During their early years, Mat and Rand pulled a lot of pranks on people in Emond's Field and just generally had a good time together. Once Mat learns that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, he becomes very cautious and uncomfortable, and tries to avoid him. He eventually accepts the fact and maintains his friendship with Rand. Rand considers Mat one of the few people that he can still trust.

As with Rand, Mat and Perrin were good friends back when they lived in the Two Rivers. As the series progresses, they understandably become a bit distant as their paths don't cross all that much; however, they are still bound by the bonds of friendship and the fact that they both came from the Two Rivers. Either one would most likely help the other any way possible.

Before leaving Emond's Field, Mat and Egwene didn't have much of a relationship despite their connections to Rand. Still, both being from the Two Rivers, they still feel a certain connection to them. Mat's relationship with Nynaeve is much the same.

Mat doesn't have the best of relationships with Aes Sedai, mainly because he has a hard time trusting them. A lot of this comes from his memories of past lives. The Aes Sedai with whom he is best acquainted is Moiraine; he seems to think well enough of her, though he does seem to put a limit to the extent to which he will trust her.

Throughout the series, Thom and Juilin become friends of Mat's. He meets Thom in 'The Eye of the World' in Emond's Field, and Juilin in 'The Dragon Reborn' when he goes to rescue Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve from the Stone of Tear. Later, they are with him in Ebou Dar and help him plan to get Joline, Teslyn and Edesina out of the city. In 'The Eye of the World,' Thom fights a Fade to buy Rand and Mat time to escape; he often tries to protect all three of the Emond's Field boys since he wasn't able to save his own nephew from Aes Sedai.

Mat's relationship with Tuon gets off to a very rocky start indeed. The first time that they meet, Tuon wishes to buy him. Forever after, she calls him 'Toy', even though he tries many times to get her to call him by his real name. In 'Winter's Heart', he learns that she is the Daughter of the Nine Moons, his fated wife. In 'Crossroads of Twilight,' he begins to court her. Mat thinks that Tuon is pretty, if on the thin side.

Quotes

"It has to be there at the Last Battle. Nothing says it can't be used before then. Nothing says it can't. (Mat about the Horn of Valere; The Great Hunt, Chapter 47.)

"Swords aren't the be-all and end-all, you know. I could do fairly well against either of you, I think, if you had a sword and I had my quarterstaff." (Mat to Gawyn and Galad; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 24.)

"I have no intention of marrying. And I have no intention of dying, either, whether I am supposed to live again or not. I walk around with holes in my memory, holes in my life, and you stare at me like idiots. If I had my way, I would want those holes filled, but at least answers to my questions might fill some in my future. You have to answer - !) (Mat to the Eelfinn; The Shadow Rising Chapter 24.)

"Everything always changes. The best plan lasts until the first arrow leaves the bow." (Mat to Lan; The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 42.)

"Now. When the poor blind fool they've chosen out for their Amyrlin gets here, I will do the talking. She can't be very bright, or they'd never have been able to shove her into the job. Amyrlin Seat for a bloody village in the middle of bloody nowhere. You keep your mouth shut and curtsey for all you're worth, and I'll pull your bacon off the coals again." (Mat to Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve; Lord of Chaos, Chapter 38.)

"She is my wife. Your bloody Daughter of the Nine Moons is my wife!" (Mat to Egeanin; Winter's Heart, Chapter 31.)