I have read The Great Hunt eight or nine times before the one I’m currently doing, but I really only have clear memories of the first time I read it as an eleven year-old. I have scattered memories of other trips through the book, but nothing is as solid as that first time. I remember being much more engaged with the Rand plot than the Egwene plot, but I’m finding that the opposite is true now. I remember that, as a child, Egwene’s time as a damane did have an impact on me, and I thought it was engaging, but I also remember that this portion of her Arc seemed more significant with each reading. Even though I remember it being gut wrenching, I have found myself looking forward to it as the most significant part of the novel. I only hope that my memories don’t let me down and that the upcoming story arc is as good as I remember.
Chapter 38 flips the pattern that Jordan has established in this novel, and has three consecutive chapters presented from Egwene’s point of view. (Or nearly so, there is a brief portion from Nynaeve’s POV) The focus of our story has shifted slightly from being purely Rand-centric to placing both characters at near-equal levels of importance. Egwene and her companions start to become major characters in their own right.
Egwene briefly reflects that she has not had dreams about Rand or the man with flames for eyes (ie. Ba’alzamon) for a while. Naturally, because Rand has not been dreaming for months. His disappearance from Egwene’s dreams lines up with Rand’s months-long journey via the Portal Stone.
I will say that I have mixed feelings about the “summer camp” feel of, particularly, the novices’ behavior in the White Tower. Chapter 38, “Practice” begins with a lot of childish behavior, complaining about authority, and giggling over boys. There seems to be a bit of romantic tension between Egwene and Elayne over Rand, and we know that Min should be in that mix as well – as revealed through her own viewings. To me, the behavior seems a bit juvenile and contrasts with the maturity that these characters demonstrate elsewhere in the story. But the counterpoint to this argument is that Egwene and Elayne are only supposed to be seventeen or eighteen, high school seniors or college freshmen, so I don’t really know if this behavior is off or not. But in these moments, both Min and Nynaeve who are a few years older seem to behave more maturely than Egwene and Elayne.
As much as the gossipy talk between these characters seems a bit out of place, Jordan uses these moments of banter to subtly inject important ideas or plot points. In this particular conversation we really begin to understand the seductive and almost addictive nature of channeling. Egwene justifies her channeling by arguing that Nynaeve is technically an Accepted so it should be okay, when we know that this is just a logical justification. Furthermore, she talks about how alive she feels when embracing saidar – very close the the language of addiction. I think that this is an interesting twist on what is a fairly standard trope about magic. Generally, magic is presented as seductive as the indirect result of the user’s ability to use magic to gain power, while in Jordan’s system, it is the Power itself that is seductive. This may later lead to other problems with power (not Power!), but at early stages the appealing thing is simply to hold the shaping force of the universe.
That moves us to Liandrin. We don’t like her because she’s not likable – she’s mean, dismissive, and authoritarian, but we also don’t trust her because we know that she is Black Ajah. The irony of her manipulation is that she keeps the girls scared, and keeps them from talking about their plans, precisely because she leads them to believe that the Black Ajah is after them. Well, they are and Liandrin knows it first hand.
Liandrin’s exchange with Suroth is interesting for what it reveals about the Dark One’s plans, the Seanchan, and the nature of darkfriends. In chapter 34, High Lord Turak tells Fain that he is curious to meet darkfriends as there are none in Seanchan. Naturally, we expect this is an error (I don’t think it’s a lie. I think Turak genuinely believes there are no darkfriends in his homeland.), and in this chapter, Suroth proves it. As we have already seen in the Prologue, darkfriends, while supposedly united in their desire to bring the Dark One to power, have a very different idea of what the world will look like once his plans come to fruition. Bors imagined a future without Aes Sedai. Suroth believes that the Dark One will usher in an era when all channelers will be leashed, and Liandrin believes that the future will be free of Seanchan. None of this should be surprising – the Dark One will certainly not convey his true intentions to the darkfriends, and most are so focused on their own power that they readily construct a future in which they are powerful and their enemies are cast down, even if their enemies are darkfriends.
Furthermore, neither Liandrin nor Suroth are being too subtle in their discussion of their mutual master and the fact that, even though they hate each other, their fear of the Great Lord will keep their hostilities in check. The Seanchan soldiers, officers, and sul’dam around them don’t seem to care. One even says that this is an issue of the High Blood and they don’t concern themselves with it. If ever there was a society ripe to be exploited by darkfriends, this would probably be it. Sorry Turak. However, what is clear here is that the Dark One realizes that Egwene and Nynaeve represent a very real threat to his plans on this side of the Aryth Ocean.
I’m not really going to comment much on Egwene becoming damane at this point, because I know I will delve into more detail in the future, but what I found really interesting, that I don’t think that I had fully processed before, is that her compliance was based mostly on the threats against Min, not on the physical/magical torture. Honestly the nature of the a’dam doesn’t give her many options, but I do think that it speaks well of her character that she is willing to endure physical torture, but will relent to save a friend.
I need to leave one comment about how incredibly competent Nynaeve is. Not only did she quickly identify the threat, she was the only one who managed to escape with all her supplies intact. She also manages to fend off a group of soldiers and a damane by duplicating the damane’s use of the power that she only witnessed once. She is also able to assess the situation, remain calm, and handle Elayne (who has been trained to do precisely those things since birth) with relative ease. It’s no shock that she occasionally looks down on people – she’s pretty solid on her own.
Finally, we learn that Cairhien has been thrust into a civil war because someone killed King Galldrian in his palace. Do we know anyone who might have motive to assassinate the king? Moral of the chapter is that Thom is a better player of the Great Game than most people know, and don’t piss him off.
Spoilers: you’ve been warned!!!!!
Not much to say here – we do see a lot more hints of the relationship triad around Rand developing. It becomes pretty clear that Elayne is interested in Rand, and that Egwene may not be as interested as she thinks.
Chapter 40 gives all the information that we need to realize that sul’damane are women who can be taught to channel.
Medievalist Doctor 