Thom Merrilin

Atarah al'Norahn

General

Thom Merrilin, a gleeman, is one of the prominent characters in 'The Wheel of Time.' Though he is now a gleeman, he once lived in Caemlyn and served as both court bard, and lover, to Queen Morgase.

Thom has a long and painful past. He became Morgase's lover after discovering that her husband, Taringail Damodred, was plotting to kill her. Instead, Thom murdered Taringail. But however strong his attachment to Morgase, eventually an even tighter bond calls to him.

In an attempt to save his nephew and only living relative, Thom leaves the Royal Palace in Andor. However, it does no good; he is too late to save Owyn, a man who can channel. When he finally returns to Caemlyn, Morgase is furious with him. He was exiled, and has not seen her since.

Thom is an older man, with white hair and mustaches. His eyes are blue, and he is tall despite a stoop, and later a limp. He is a skilled gleeman, talented in juggling, knives and eating fire.

Timeline

-Thom arrives in Emond's Field, and does a small demonstration of his skills for the people of Emond's Field. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 1)

-Thom is there when Rand arrives in Emond's Field with a wounded Tam. It is Thom who plants the suggestion of Moiraine's help into Rand and Bran's minds. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 7.)

-Thom leaves Emond's Field with Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, Moiraine and Lan. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 11.)

-Thom and the others arrive in Baerlon. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 13.)

-Thom learns of Rand, Mat and Perrin's dreams. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 15.)

-Thom leaves Baerlon with the others. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 18.)

-Thom and the others are attacked by Trollocs and hide in Shadar Logoth. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 18.)

-After escaping from Shadar Logoth, Thom, Rand and Mat buy passage on the Spray. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 20.)

-After leaving the spray, a Fade appears. Thom tells Rand and Mat to leave, and faces the Fade himself. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 26.)

-Believing that Thom is dead, Rand is shocked to see him in Cairhien. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 25.)

-Thom kills Galldrian. (The Great Hunt, Chapter 24; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 31.)

-Mat meets Thom in Tar Valon. They leave for Caemlyn. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 31; The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 32.)

-Thom and Mat arrive in Caemlyn and meet Basel Gill. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 45.)

-Thom and Mat leave for Tear to warn Elayne of a plot to kill her. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 49.)

-Thom leaves for Tanchico with Elayne and Nynaeve. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 17.)

-Thom helps search for the Black Ajah in Tanchico. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 46; The Shadow Rising, Chapter 51.)

-Thom helps to rescue Amathera and steal the sad bracelets. (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 55.)

-Thom travels with Elayne, Juilin and Nynaeve towards Amadicia. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 8.)

-Thom, along with Juilin, go into a village in Amadicia and rescues Elayne and Nynaeve. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 10.)

-Thom and the others join Luca's circus. Thom throws knives, and juggles. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 17.)

-Thom and Juilin find Birgitte lying outside, and take her into Elayne and Nynaeve's wagon. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 35.)

-Thom and the others travel towards Salidar by ship. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 49.)

-Thom and the others arrive in Salidar. (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 50.)

-Thom and Juilin scout Amadicia. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 29.)

-Thom is one of those who goes to Ebou Dar with Elayne and Nynaeve. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 44.)

-Thom and the others help the captured Aes Sedai to escape from Ebou Dar. (Winter's Heart, Chapter ???)

-Thom and the others travel with Valan Luca's circus on their way out of Altara. (Crossroads of Twilight.)

Relationships with other Characters

For years, Thom and Morgase were lovers. He was also her biggest supporter during the Succession. However, after he left Caemlyn to try to help his nephew, she was furious, and exiled him. They have not seen each other since, but Thom remembers her fondly, though he no longer loves her. By now, Morgase has forgiven him.

Thom and Elayne are very close; Elayne considers him to be the father that she never really had. When Elayne was younger and Thom still lived in Caemlyn, he loved to play with her, and let her pull his mustaches. When, years later, Elayne and Thom meet again, she does not know who he is, but still cares for him. When she realizes who he really is, she is at first angry when she learns that he was one of Morgase's lovers. After Thom explains everything to her, they become even closer.

Thom seems to have a good relationship with Rand, as well as with Mat and Perrin. When they all leave Emond's Field in 'The Eye of the World,' he spends time talking to them, telling their stories, and playing songs for them. After Thom, Rand and Mat are separated from the others, he seems to care for them like his own kin; when the Fade appears to kill Rand and Mat, Thom urges them to run and stays behind to fight it. His reasoning is that if he can save Rand and Mat, maybe he will be able to stop thinking of his dead nephew, Owyn. In the later books, he helps Rand several times by forging letters and finding information. He travels with Mat both to Ebou Dar, and accompanies him when they leave at the end of 'Winter's Heart.'

Thom and Juilin seem to be rather good friends. They seem to stick together while accompanying Elayne and Moiraine, even though she is Aes Sedai. Several times he mentions her, saying that she is a fine-looking woman, and just a fine woman. In a dream of Egwene's, he puts his hand into a fire to pull out the blue stone that she wears on a chain fastened in her hair, and many people take this to mean that he will save her from the Aelfin and Eelfin.

Basel Gill is an old friend of Thom's. In the Eye of the World, when Thom stays to battle the Myrddraal and sends Rand and Mat on ahead, he tells them to go to Caemlyn and find an inn called 'The Queen's Blessing.' When they arrive there and tell Basel Gill that Thom is dead, Basel is quite adamant in his belief that Thom is not dead.

Miscellaneous

-In chapter 15 of 'The Eye of the World', Min has a viewing of Thom: 'A man - not him - juggling fire, and the White Tower.'

-In Chapter 15 of 'The Fires of Heaven,' Egwene has a dream of Thom: '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.'

-Thom has never preformed in Tar Valon.

Quotes

"This village has no use for me, now, while on the other hand, I have never performed in Tar Valon. And though I usually journey alone, after last night I have no objections at all to traveling in company. (The Eye of the World, Chapter 10.)

"I say hold your peace," he said finally. "Don't tell anyone, for the time, at least. You can always change your mind, if you have to, but once you tell, it's done, and you're tied up worse than ever with...with her." (The Eye of the World, Chapter 15.)

"I could have gotten us passage for a few songs and stories if you two hadn't been so quick to show silver." (The Eye of the World, Chapter 2 1.)

"I had a nephew, Owyn," he said wearily, shrugging out of his cloak. He made a pile with his blanket-roll as he talked, carefully setting his cased instruments on top. "My brother's only son, my only living kin. He got in trouble with the Aes Sedai, but I was too busy with...other things. I don't know what I could have done, but when I finally tried, it was too late. Owyn died a few years later. You could say Aes Sedai killed him." He straightened up, not looking at them. His voice was still level, but Rand glimpsed tears in his eyes as he turned his head away. "If I can keep you two free of Tar Valon, maybe I can stop thinking about Owyn." (The Eye of the World, Chapter 26.)

"I never should have gotten mixed up with you boys. Should never have." He shrugged the bundled gleeman's cloak off of his back and thrust it into Rand's arms. "Take care of that. When I say run, you run and don't stop until you get to Caemlyn. The Queen's Blessing. An inn. Remember that, in case...Just remember it." (The Eye of the World, Chapter 26.)

"That Fade -" He looked around; there was no one close enough to hear, but he lowered his voice anyway - "had no interest in me. It left me a little present of a stiff leg and ran off after you and Mat. All you could have done was die." (The Great Hunt, Chapter 25.)

"Too bad, in a way. She's a fine woman, even if she is?" He left it unsaid. "So it was Mat or Perrin she was after. I won't ask which. They were good boys, and I don't want to know." Rand shifted uneasily, and gave a start when Thom fixed him with a bony finger. "What I do want to know is, do you still have my harp and flute? I want them back, boy. What I have now are not fit for a pig to play." (The Great Hunt, Chapter 25.)

"Kill a man who needs killing, and sometimes others pay for it. The question is, was it worth doing it anyway? There's always a balance, you know. Good and evil. Light and Shadow. We would not be human if there wasn't a balance. (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 31.)

"What are you talking about? The man is dead. If he already killed them...Well, you've avenged them. If he hasn't, you saved them. Now will you bloody walk faster? The Defenders won't be long coming, and they are not so gentle as the Queen's Guards." (The Dragon Reborn, Chapter 49.)

"As you say, Tanchico is dangerous now, but then it always was. I wish the young women well, yet I've no wish to stick my head into a vipers' nest. I am too old for that sort of thing. I have been thinking of taking up farming. A quiet life. Safe." (The Shadow Rising, Chapter 17.)

"The Tower has its own rules. What Aes Sedai do, they do for reasons of their own, and often not for those they give. If they give reasons at all." (The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 10.)