Towers of Midnight: Chapter 22
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Chapter Icon: Five dice, arranged in a ring
Points of View: Gawyn, Mat, Birgitte
Contents
Outline
Gawyn annoys Egwene by trying to protect her. Birgitte tries to talk Mat out of going to the Tower of Ghenjei.
Summary
Gawyn's Point of View:
Location: The White Tower
Characters: Gawyn, Mazone, Celark, Zang, Gareth
Gawyn sees Mazone, Celark and Zang drinking and dicing and tells them if the Aes Sedai find out, it will be hard to convince one to bond them. They tell him they don't want to be Warders and he agrees to ask Chubain if the remaining Younglings can be incorporated into the Tower Guard. He goes to see Bryne, who tells him he needs to want something other than Egwene. He then goes to see Egwene and notices a strange shadow outside her room. He is unable to keep his focus on it, but attracts its attention and it attacks. He is barely able to defend himself and it flees. He bursts into Egwene's room and is caught in a trap.
Mat's Point of View:
Setting: Caemlyn
Characters: Chet, Mat, Noal, Thom
Mat talks to Chet in an Inn, to find out what people are saying about him. He has begun wearing a shortsword, for show so that people will be more likely to leave him alone. Noal and Thom arrive and they discuss the Tower of Ghenjei. After leaving Thom and Noal, he remembers that Birgitte knows about the Tower and decides to go see her. On the way he interrupts a robbery, but the man he saves recognises him and Mat is forced to kill him when he attacks.
Birgitte's Point of View:
Setting: Caemlyn
Characters: Birgitte, Kalia, Mat
Birgitte watches the play, The Marriage and Death of Princess Walishen and is bored by it. Kalia tells her of a disturbance at the Plum Gate and she leaves Kalia to the play while she investigates. She finds Mat, posing as a beggar, dicing with the guards. They head out for a drink at the Grand Hike. He asks her about the Tower of Ghenjei and she tells him to avoid the place. Mat insists that he has to go on. She says only one in a thousand get out, so he tosses two dozen coins in the air, all of which come down heads. She tells him of a time during the Buchaner Rebellion when she took Gaidal in, hoping to have him healed, but instead they wandered lost for over two months before dying there. She feels Elayne in pain and they rush to help her.
Notes
This section contains Notes on this Chapter which may contain spoilers. Please expand to view.
Mysteries
- How does Birgitte know her story was popular a hundred years before?
Did she have a life then?
- How did her story get out if she died?
- Why is Elayne in pain?
Given how well protected she is, she presumably did something stupid.
Plotlines
- Moiraine
Mat realises that Birgitte knows more about the Tower of Ghenjei than anyone and asks her advice.
Oddities
- Birgitte previously claimed never to have been a soldier (CoT, Ch. 11), but in this chapter claims to have been both a soldier and a general in her previous lives.
Character Development
- Gawyn
- Gawyn still thinks he knows better than Egwene what she needs.
- Egwene
- Egwne expects Gawyn to obey her as an Amyrlin, not protect her as an Aes Sedai.
Characters
- First Mention
Calisen, Celark, Chet, Jethari Moondancer, Kalia Bent, Makzim, Mazone, Nimri, Normad, Renald Macer, Snert, Walishen, Zang
- First Appearance
Celark, Chet, Kalia Bent, Mazone, Nimri, Renald Macer, Snert
