Towers of Midnight: Prologue
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Chapter Icon: Wheel and Serpent
Points of View: Lan, Perrin, Graendal, Galad, Padan Fain, Malenarin Rai
Contents
Outline
Bulen joins Lan; Perrin has bad dreams; Graendal escapes, allowing Rand to balefire Delana and Aran'gar. Galad is taken prisoner by Asunawa; Fain is creating his own trolloc army; The Kandori bordertowers are under attack.
Summary
Lan's Point of View:
Location: Proska Flats , Saldaea
Lan is riding in Saldaea, annoyed that Nynaeve tricked him. He is approached by Bulen who tells him Nynaeve is trying to recruit men to ride with him and he wishes to be one of them. Lan remembers he only promised to let men ride, and as Bulen is not on horse at first tries to send him away. Bulen tells him he wants to wear the hadori and asks permission to fight at his side. Lan reluctantly agrees.
Perrin's Point of View:
Location: Tel'aran'rhiod
Perrin dreams of working at the forge and thinks of Aram's death. He drops a piece of metal which resolves itself into Aram. He dreams of entering Malden, with an axe and fighting and killing Aram. He pulls out more figurines, of Two Rivers men but doesn't understand why. Hopper tries to get him to think more like a wolf, but he insists he is not one.
Graendal's Point of View:
Location: Natrin's Barrow
Characters: Graendal, Aran'gar, Delana, Rand, Nynaeve, Garamund, Ramshalan
Graendal is hosting Aran'gar who has been punished for losing control of Egwene. She touches Aran'gar's face with a weave of the True Power. Delana comes in and she and Aran'gar make out. A warning sounds and Garamund comes in to tell Graendal that Ramshalan has been caught. She realizes Rand knows where she is and at first intends to flee but remembers her instructions to cause Rand pain and frustration. She takes control of a dove using a weave of the True Power. She has both Aran'gar and Delana lay a weave of Compulsion on Ramshalan in the hopes of confusing Rand and sends him back, following with the dove. She wonders how he had been tracked and if Nynaeve had been able to remove her Compulsion without killing the victim, and that if so, Nynaeve will have to be killed as reading Compulsion is a dangerous skill.
She sees Rand with the Access Key and realizes his plan, releasing the dove. She releases the True Power and takes hold of saidar instead. She shields Aran'gar and Delana and binds them with air so that the balefire will kill them and Rand will think her dead before opening a gateway to a ridge just behind the palace as the balefire strikes. She leaves to plan her next move.
Galad's Point of View:
Setting: A swamp on the border of Ghealdan and Altara
Characters: Jaret Byar, Dain Bornhald, Rhadam Asunawa, Barlett, Trom, Golever, Harnesh
Galad leads his group of Whitecloaks through a swamp on the Ghealdan and Altaran border. It has gone on much longer than the map had suggested and the men are growing weary. He gives a speech on what it means to be one of the Children of the Light and the men take heart. Byar comes to see him, hopeful that by the time they are done they will have enough men to overthrow the White Tower rather than ally with it. Galad replies that the Shadow will have Dreadlords and Forsaken. They cross a river, full of dead bodies from some unknown massacre. Galad is convinced that Rand is the Dragon Reborn, but is unsure whether the White Tower controls him.
The lead scout, Barlett takes them to the edge of the swamp, where they encounter a force of around four thousand Whitecloaks and perhaps twice that number of Amadicians. Galad goes forward to meet Asunawa and the five Lord Captain Commanders with him. He tells Asunawa that the Whitecloak oaths prevent surrender at which Asunawa claims Galad is a Darkfriend who used the power of the Shadow to defeat Valda. Galad replies that a Darkfriend would not be able to win a fight sanctified by the Light in front of the Children. He tells Asunawa he will personally submit if the men who followed him are not put to the question or harmed. Asunawa agrees and Galad is taken captive for questioning.
Padan Fain's Point of View:
Location: the Blight
Characters: Padan Fain
Padan Fain is wandering in the Blight, feeling liberated by his madness. He has been killing worms and is thinking he will need a new name. He encounters a band of Trollocs and sends the mist that is lapping at his feet at them. This damages them, boiling their skin and leaving pock marks. When it is past however, they are his to command except for the Myrddraal, which do not recover. He thinks it a shame that Myrddraal now die from his touch as he would like to corrupt them as well, but does not want to wear gloves as that would make cutting himself more difficult. He decides it is time to kill Rand, and that after that he might kill the Dark One.
Malenarin Rai's Point of View:
Setting: Heeth Tower, Kandor
Characters: Malenarin Rai, Jargen, Keemlin Rai, Landalin, Kralle
In Heeth Tower, the commander Malenarin Rai is informed by Jargen that a flash has come from Rena Tower, but there has been no follow up message. They haven't responded to a return flash, so Malenarin instructs the men to flash the southern towers. He decides to send a group of men, including his son south, to take a message in case the tower system is broken. The men begin to raise the hoardings and prepare for a siege. He is surprised when he sees Keemlin, who tells him he sent Tian instead because Tian is a little lighter and can ride faster, but more importantly because Tian's mother has already lost four sons. He gives Keemlin the sword that marks him as a man. There is still no flash reply from Rena and now no reply from Farmay. To the north, a dark mass resolves itself into a trolloc horde. They prepare to fight, expecting to fall and hoping to give those in the south time to prepare. A Draghkar attacks but is taken down by a dozen archers.
Notes
This section contains Notes on this Chapter which may contain spoilers. Please expand to view.
Plotlines
- Tarmon Gaidon
There are large trolloc armies attacking the lands south of the Blight.
- Padan Fain
The Padan Fain subplot moves forward as we see his abilities have continued to increase. He has his own army and is moving to find Rand.
- The Forsaken
We learn that Graendal survived the attack on Natrin's Barrow, but that Aran'gar was there at the time and was killed.
Mysteries
- Who taught Delana compulsion?
Verin notes that most wilders who go to the Tower have compulsion stripped from them. We know from Liandrin that those who go as Darkfriends are able to retain it, but her version was a weak thing, as was the version Verin managed to work out. We also know from Mesaana that the Forsaken are unlikely to share much knowledge with the Aes Sedai.
Mysteries Resolved
- We learn where Aran'gar fled after being exposed.
Character Development
- Perrin
- Perrin is fixating on Aram's death.
- Things are still not back to normal between Perrin and Faile.
- Galad
- Galad has accepted his position as being the Lord Captain of the Whitecloaks.
Characters
- First Mention
Azi al'Thorne, Barriga, Barlett, Garamund, Golever, Harnesh, Jargen, Keemlin Rai, Kralle, Landelin, Malenarin Rai, Niach Okatomo, Stout, Tian, Yabeth,
- First Appearance
Bartlett, Garamund, Golever, Harnesh, Jargen, Keemlin Rai, Kralle, Landelin, Malenarin Rai, Stout
